ICYMI: Secretary Zinke aims to kill 4,000 jobs at Interior

Secretary of the Interior goes on the record to Congress to demand massive cuts

In written testimony submitted to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke called for eliminating 4,000 department employees.

Chris Saeger, Executive Director of the Western Values Project, had this to say about the cuts:

Secretary Zinke has already called Interior’s employees ‘serpents‘ and told park rangers that private entities could do their job better by privatizing campgrounds – not a good way to run an agency or a business. The cuts in this budget will make it harder for Americans to access the lands that belong to them. Meanwhile, oil companies continue to get sweetheart deals for drilling on American public lands. Those priorities could not be farther away from the responsible land management Westerners expect and deserve.

A memo recently sent by acting Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Director Michael Nedd to employees told them to expect the elimination of 1,000 positions by year’s end.

An analysis by the National Parks Conservation Association found that the proposed budget cuts to the National Park Service, part of the 4,000 employee reduction at Interior, would eliminate over 1,200 full-time park employees at a time when our parks are seeing record visitation.

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