House holds hearing on Interior Department reorganization

[Cara J]

On December 7, the House Committee on Natural Resources Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held a hearing titled “Transforming the Department of the Interior for the 21st Century.” The hearing examined goals and policy ideas for reorganizing and relocating parts of the Department of the Interior in response to a March 2017 executive order (13781) on reorganizing the executive branch to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability of government agencies. The hearing memo, drafted by the majority committee staff, suggests providing more authority to state and field-level managers and relocating the headquarters of some of its bureaus, in particular the Bureau of Land Management, to western states. This idea has been championed by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, who has talked publicly of similar reorganization goals. Denis Galvin from the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, one of the witnesses at the hearing, was concerned about the lack of transparency and opportunity for public input in reorganization efforts. Although a DOI reorganization plan has been sent to the Office of Management and Budget, nothing has been released to the public about the goals, costs, or likely effects of reorganization. Galvin as well as another witness, Kathleen Sgamma from the Western Energy [...]

 

Read more: http://wildlife.org/house-holds-hearing-on-interior-department-reorganization/