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mahatmakanejeeves

(57,425 posts)
Thu Jan 11, 2018, 01:48 PM Jan 2018

Interior plans to move thousands of workers in the biggest reorganization in its history

Interior plans to move thousands of workers in the biggest reorganization in its history



Energy and Environment

Interior plans to move thousands of workers in the biggest reorganization in its history

By Juliet Eilperin and Darryl Fears January 10 at 10:26 PM

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke launched an unprecedented effort Wednesday to undertake the largest reorganization in the department’s 168-year history, moving to shift tens of thousands of workers to new locations and change the way the federal government manages more than 500 million acres of land and water across the country.

The proposal would divide the United States into 13 regions and centralize authority for different parts of Interior within those boundaries. The regions would be defined by watersheds and geographic basins, rather than individual states and the current boundaries that now guide Interior’s operations. This new structure would be accompanied by a dramatic shift in location of the headquarters of major bureaus within Interior, such as the Bureau of Land Management and the Bureau of Reclamation.

As part of the reorganization, Zinke brought 150 Senior Executive Service staffers to Washington this week to explain his proposal, get their input and split them into working groups that discussed ways to streamline the Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, Fish and Wildlife Service and other key agencies. Participants identified alternative cities outside Washington, Denver and Albuquerque where thousands of employees could live with suitable schools and homes they can afford. The department has 70,000 employees.
....

Moving thousands of employees around the country would require congressional authorization. Zinke said the Trump administration plans to negotiate the reorganization in the upcoming budget approval process. During the Great Depression, Congress had delegated “consolidation authority” to the president but then withdrew it when the law’s sunset provision was triggered in 1984. .... At a budget hearing in June, Zinke defended a $1.6 billion proposed budget cut at Interior, saying he planned to shave 4,000 positions from the workforce. In September, he said a third of Interior’s staff was “not loyal to the flag,” meaning the Trump administration.
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Juliet Eilperin is The Washington Post's senior national affairs correspondent, covering how the new administration is transforming a range of U.S. policies and the federal government itself. She is the author of two books—one on sharks, and another on Congress, not to be confused with each other—and has worked for the Post since 1998. Follow @eilperin

Darryl Fears has worked at The Washington Post for more than a decade, mostly as a reporter on the National staff. He currently covers the environment, focusing on the Chesapeake Bay and issues affecting wildlife. Follow @bydarrylfears

Retweeted by RogueAltGov: https://twitter.com/RogueAltGov

@MartinHeinrich says “On its face, this looks more like a dismantling than a reorganization.” 👉 @SecretaryZinke’s Interior plans to move thousands of workers in the biggest reorganization in its history - The Washington Post


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Interior plans to move thousands of workers in the biggest reorganization in its history (Original Post) mahatmakanejeeves Jan 2018 OP
Why not just sell all of our land to your friends, that is what this is about. Eliot Rosewater Jan 2018 #1
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