The Bureau of Land Management is supporting a bill sponsored by U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Silt, that would expedite the sale of about 31 acres of federal land in the Clifton area to Mesa County.

Nada Wolff Culver, the agency’s principal deputy director, discussed the agency’s position late last month in a hearing on H.R. 2997 before the House Natural Resource Committee’s Subcommittee on Federal Lands. Also testifying was Rose Pugliese, now a state lawmaker in El Paso County but formerly a Mesa County commissioner who began pursuing the county’s acquisition of the land while a commissioner.

The bill, titled the Clifton Opportunities Now for Vibrant Economic Yields (CONVEY) Act, would direct the Interior secretary to convey the parcel to the county “as soon as practicable.” The county would have to pay fair market value in the transaction. It hopes to use the property, mostly south of Interstate 70 in the 32 Road area, to promote economic development by incentivizing industry and business in the Clifton area.

“This is going to benefit Clifton, Colorado, greatly economically,” Boebert told the subcommittee.

Pugliese voiced frustration over the five-plus years it has taken so far to move toward the sale of the land, though she said she appreciates the BLM’s help in trying to navigate the process.

“Where I believe it got derailed was when the Bureau of Reclamation came into play,” she said.

An Interior secretarial order more than a century ago withdrew about a parcel totaling about 40 acres from the public domain for use by the Bureau of Reclamation for building the Highline Canal, part of the Grand Valley Reclamation Project. More recently, the Grand Valley Water Users Association, Reclamation’s managing partner on the project, determined that a portion of the land is no longer needed for Reclamation’s project purposes. The Bureau of Reclamation plans to continue to keep 8.25 acres on the south side of the parcel for project purposes, but submitted a notice to the Bureau of Land Management in 2021 of its intent to relinquish 31.1 acres.

Culver testified that the BLM and Bureau of Reclamation are currently going through a process, involving surveys and preparations of documents, to have the land returned to the BLM so it can be conveyed to the county.

The bill language requires the conveyance to the county to be made “notwithstanding” the two secretarial orders in the early 1900s that withdrew it for the reclamation project. Culver told the committee the bill would let the BLM skip the step currently underway to have the land returned to the BLM.

She said the BLM is making good progress getting the land returned to it but nevertheless supports the bill.

“We will get this done. We’re committed to getting it done one way or the other,” she said.

Pugliese suggested to subcommittee members that there’s a need to make the federal land disposal process more streamlined, with less red tape.

“Today it is just about Clifton, Colorado,” she told them. “… Tomorrow it will be another parcel in any one of your communities.”

Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Lafayette, noted how long it can take to get a bill like the CONVEY Act through Congress. He suggested to committee members that maybe Congress should give land agencies authority to waive the step the BLM is in the process if it is best interest of an agency and the land being conveyed.

“That seems like maybe a more time-effective way of achieving that,” he said.

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