GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (AP) - A federal oversight office will look into a plan to relocate Bureau of Land Management jobs to Colorado and other western states, officials said.
The Government Accountability Office agreed to review the Interior Department plan, The Grand Junction Sentinel reports.
The proposal would relocate the bureau’s headquarters to Grand Junction along with its director and office staff of between 27 and 40 positions, officials said.
About 300 bureau jobs in Washington, D.C., will be redistributed to several Western states, including 85 in various Colorado locations, federal officials said.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona asked the accountability office to conduct the review.
The Interior Department has failed to be forthcoming with the House Natural Resources Committee following the committee’s requests for information about justifications for the move, Grijalva said.
“The Interior Department needs to show its work, finally,” Grijalva said Wednesday.
Grijalva, the committee chair, said the department needs to provide the cost-benefit analysis for the move as well as unfettered access to employees.
“If this administration is confident the move is defensible, GAO should have no problem confirming it,” he said.
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