BLM HQ Will Share a Building With Oil and Gas Companies

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (AP) — The Bureau of Land Management is moving its headquarters to an office building in Colorado that also houses oil and gas organizations, drawing criticism from environmental groups.

The Interior Department announced Friday it has leased part of a four-story building in Grand Junction.

The building's other tenants include two oil and gas companies as well as a state oil and gas association. The BLM regulates oil and gas leases and development on the land it oversees.

The Denver Post reports representatives of environmental groups are concerned about the close association between oil and gas interests and the agency.

U.S. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, who was in Grand Junction to address a business group Saturday, told The Daily Sentinel that the separate General Services Administration handled the office space leasing.