The Trump administration is forcing key environmental review staff to move west — part of its efforts to shrink the number of federal workers based in Washington
The Interior Department is forcing key staff responsible for environmental reviews to move west as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to shrink the number of federal workers based in Washington, two people familiar with the plans told POLITICO.
The jobs of six of the 12 BLM team members in Washington that coordinate the analysis into whether projects comply with the National Environmental Policy Act are being moved to Alaska, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Montana and Utah, according to a source familiar with the plan. Two will remain in D.C., including the branch chief, and the remainder will be assigned to state-level environmental review jobs, according to one source with direct knowledge of the plan.
The NEPA review team members have not been given a deadline for agreeing to the move, the people added. BLM spokesperson Jeff Krauss declined to comment on the transfers of the D.C.-based environmental review team or how such a split might impact permit times. Krauss also did not directly respond to questions about when BLM senior political staff are expected to move to Colorado.Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, who is driving the relocation process, has touted the moves of at least two-thirds of BLM’s 550 D.C.
The reorganization plan has also run afoul of congressional budget makers. Appropriations committees in the House and Senate have cut funding for the reorganization project from bills for the coming fiscal year and directed the agency to halt the relocation project. Despite that, Interior has said “the BLM relocation is moving full speed ahead.”
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