OGDEN, Utah -- Utah 1st District Representative Rob Bishop used his clout as chair of the House Committee on Natural Resources to advocate for Ogden as the potential site of the agency controlling more land than any other in the federal government.
All but a sliver of the land managed by the federal Bureau of Land Management is in the West, so the Department of the Interior is working on plans to move the national headquarters of the agency, and Ogden is on a short list of cities considered to have a strong shot at the prize.
The BLM employs more than 10,000 people, though because of it's broad mandate, the employees are spread over a vast region.
Still, the national headquarters would bring hundreds of jobs, and Governor Gary Herbert thinks it would make the agency more responsive to it's natural constituency.
"Our goals are the same I think in just about every instance, Herbert said. Our processes sometimes differ."
The process for a move has not been unveiled, and Bishop said he has no sense of a timeline for the decision.
Other cities under consideration include Denver and Grand Junction in Colorado, Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Salt Lake City.
