Reps. Gosar, Pearce Call on Kornze NOT to Combine New Mexico, Arizona BLM Offices

Press Release

Today, U.S. Congressman Paul A. Gosar, D.D.S. (AZ-04) released the following statement after spearheading a letter with bipartisan support from his House colleagues to Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Director Neil Kornze asking him to suspend any consideration of merging the Arizona and New Mexico state offices:

"Relocating Arizona's BLM office to Santa Fe defies commonsense and will lead to permitting delays, job losses, increased wildfires and less efficient land management. Furthermore, forcing 120 Arizona employees to uproot their lives and move to Santa Fe or lose their jobs is not normal workforce attrition.

"Currently, BLM spends almost $100 million each year on new land acquisition when the agency already can't manage their existing land portfolio. Instead it should prioritize spending and find the necessary funding for this field office that is critical to Arizona's economy.

"The millions of acres of BLM land in our state require a local office with local employees that are familiar with the unique topography and multiple land-use planning process utilized in Arizona. This relocation idea hasn't been thoroughly examined and no economic impact statement has been completed. BLM should immediately put the brakes on this misguided proposal."

Yesterday the Western Energy Alliance penned a letter to U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Sally Jewell raising similar concerns about this proposal stating, "The addition of Arizona and its large federal acreage to the New Mexico office would only serve to further divide resources in the state office in a manner that is not compatible with BLM's mission, and it would limit the time and attention the State Director and associated staff may reasonably be expected to devote to each state. Combining the New Mexico and Arizona State Offices into one entity would assuredly lead to gaps in the knowledge necessary to effectively manage the diverse lands and resources that would fall under the purview of the new position."

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