CLIMATE CHANGE/ENVIRONMENT/INTERIOR/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “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 move is the latest by the Trump administration to eliminate environmental positions from Washington, D.C. and comes after the Department of Agriculture’s decision to transfer researchers whose jobs included studying climate change to a new headquarters in Kansas City. As part of the ongoing reorganization of the Interior Department, half of the Bureau of Land Management’s national environmental review team would be scattered to states across the West, a move that could slow or undermine the approval of permits for oil and gas and renewable energy project developments as well as construction of recreational paths, according to the people.”
–Ben Lefebvre, “Trump administration to move environmental review staff to states,” Politico, September 25, 2019 6:37 pm