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VAIL, Colo. (AP) — Interior Secretary David Bernhardt says he is looking at every job in the Bureau of Land Management to determine if the role is essential and if it should be based in Washington, D.C.
Bernhardt said at the Western Governors' Association conference Monday that once those questions are answered, he will decide whether to move BLM's headquarters to a Western state, closer to the nearly 400,000 square miles (over 1 million square kilometers) the land agency manages.
The Colorado Sun reports he declined to name a preferred state, and a decision is expected by September. Bernhardt says he expects "a substantial element of BLM folks in D.C. being repositioned."
A few dozen protesters, some wearing swamp monster masks, paraded nearby to bring attention to Bernhardt's previous job lobbying for oil and gas interests.
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