Government moves to shut down or cripple federal natural resource agencies

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Under the pretext of efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability, the President signed an Executive Order on March 13 that directs the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to present the President with a plan that recommends ways to reorganize the executive branch and eliminate unnecessary agencies.

The White House has now asked for public input as to which agencies should be eliminated or "reformed."

Together with the drastic budget cuts proposed by the President's budget, the outcome of this public poll could have dire impacts on the ability of the federal agencies to protect our natural resources. Cynics might suggest that this - and not efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability - is the real purpose of this process.

You can click NONE in each of the two categories (reform, eliminate).

Meanwhile, the FY18-19 budget proposal sent to Congress on 23 May threatens to hamstring nearly every federal agency - which of course might impact effectiveness. Agency details will be provided on OE over the next several days. Although it is unlikely that Congress will agree to such drastic cuts, there is likely to be a reduction in funding for nearly every federal agency.

NOW is the time to write to your members of Congress - repeatedly. Use their webforms (http://www.house.gov/representatives/ and https://www.senate.gov/senators/contact/) and/or call. Make your contacts short and to the point and be polite.