Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland will be in Colorado later this week, and part of that visit could include a look at the Bureau of Land Management headquarters in Grand Junction.

The agency relocated to the city two years ago at the behest of then-Secretary David Bernhardt, as part of a move to put its employees closer to the public lands they manage. At the time of the move’s proposal, the bureau estimated 85 employees would relocate from Washington, D.C., to offices in the West, and 27 to the Grand Junction headquarters.

But according to Wyoming Public Radio, only three employees actually made the move to Grand Junction.

Colorado’s congressional delegation, despite the fact that the decision came out of the Trump administration, have continued to advocate for the the headquarters to remain in Grand Junction. Democratic U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper have voiced support for keeping the headquarters at its location at 760 Horizon Drive. At the time of the move, the building also housed Chevron, the West Slope branch of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association and Laramie Energy. The Oil and Gas office has since relocated.

Oil and gas companies’ operations on federal lands are regulated by the bureau and the Interior Department.

Critics have alleged the move, part of a reorganization of the agency, was improper. In December 2019, U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., chair of the House’s Committee on Natural Resources, asked the Government Accountability Office to investigate the decision-making process, whether it was properly planned and analyzed and whether it would provide the benefits claimed by the Trump administration.

At a Dec. 11, 2019, news conference announcing the investigation, Grijalva was joined by Haaland, then a member of the  House representing New Mexico’s 1st Congressional District.

The Accountability Office report, issued in March 2020, “assessed the bureau’s reorganization efforts against key practices for agency reforms. The bureau established goals for the reorganization, but did not establish performance measures. We also found that the bureau’s implementation plan did not include milestones, which would help ensure that the reforms are being achieved as intended and in a timely manner. We recommended that the bureau establish outcome-oriented performance measures to assess the effectiveness of the reorganization.”

The report criticized agency leadership for failing to “address key practices for involving employees and key stakeholders in developing its plan.” The Interior Department did not agree or disagree with the report’s findings .

In February, during her Senate confirmation hearing, Haaland told Hickenlooper that she would keep an open mind on the agency’s location.

“I’ll absolutely keep an open dialogue,” she told him. “And if you’re inviting me to Colorado I gracefully accept.”

In a statement Tuesday, Jennifer Rokalam, executive director of the Center for Western Priorities said “I’m glad that Secretary Haaland will get to see in person the extent of the damage that the Trump administration inflicted on the Bureau of Land Management. The agency has been without a confirmed director for more than four years, and without a functioning headquarters for two years.

“It’s laudable that Senators Hickenlooper and Bennet want to keep jobs in Colorado, but at the end of the day, the Trump ‘relocation’ of (the) headquarters was always designed to eviscerate the agency and force employees out, not create jobs. Secretary Haaland should use this visit to admit what is clear for all to see: the Bureau of Land Management needs a functioning headquarters staffed with experienced leaders, and the fastest way to do that is to rebuild the agency in Washington, D.C.”

This is Haaland’s first trip to Colorado since she was sworn in as Interior Secretary on March 18. She previously visited southeastern Utah but did not make a stop in Grand Junction.

Haaland will begin her visit in Denver on Thursday, to talk about drought. On Friday she will be in Grand Junction to talk about wildland fire preparedness and response. On Saturday, she will be in Ridgway to discuss the outdoor recreation economy in a community forum.