by Greg Walcher, E&E Legal Senior Policy Fellow
As appearing in the Daily Sentinel
In the 1980s, when the Clash sang “Should I stay or should I go,” its lyrics include the no-win scenario, “If I go there will be trouble, An’ if I stay it will be double.” That damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t dilemma is a perfect description of the current debate about the headquarters of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
The issue is being argued — contentiously — in the halls of Congress, the hallways of the Interior Department, and the West Wing of the White House. The Biden transition team, which met after the election to make recommendations to the new administration, advocated moving the BLM from Grand Junction back to Washington, D.C. Several national environmental organizations have also made that a priority, but they are not unanimous.
One, calling itself “The Climate 2021 Project,” outlined numerous changes it wanted at Interior, including the statement that the new president should “bring BLM national leadership back to Washington” on day one. Day one has come and gone, and if anything, that debate is more contentious than before.
