ByCharles Kennedy– Mar 13, 2025, 8:38 AM CDT
The mass layoffs of federal employees is leaving the process of critical energy projects permitting understaffed and slowed in various oil-producing U.S. areas, Reuters reports, quoting agency representatives and state officials.
The newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk, is axing the federal workforce on a mass scale. Among the agencies hit by the layoffs are the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. All these are critical to the permitting of energy projects.
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Accelerating American energy projects and dominance are key priorities for President Donald Trump, but some unintended consequences from the DOGE offensive on the federal workforce are already becoming evident in oil producing states.
The permitting process and environmental consents and compliance should be rigorously followed so that a project permit has fewer chances to be attacked at court by environmental organizations, Mike Celata, who served as BOEM’s regional director for the Gulf of Mexico for years, including during President Trump’s first term, told Reuters.
BOEM and other such agencies need to follow the permitting process, Celata said, adding that “Loss of people becomes a problem.”
Companies in the industry welcome the cutting of wasteful federal money spending, but warn that agencies responsible for energy project permitting need to be “properly staffed,” as NextDecade’s chief executive Matt Schatzman told Reuters.
Alaska’s Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski also weighed in on the issue. In a February post on X, Senator Murkowski commented on the reduction-in-force order that “Many of these abrupt terminations will do more harm than good, stunting opportunities in Alaska and leaving holes in our communities.”
“We can’t realize our potential for responsible energy and mineral development if we can’t permit projects,” Senator Murkowski wrote, but added she shares the administration’s goal of reducing the size of the federal government.
White House spokesperson Harrison Fields commented for Reuters on the layoffs, saying that “Streamlining organization charts in an effort to make government more efficient will not impact the President’s Drill Baby Drill agenda, and any hyperventilating about cutting waste, fraud, and abuse is irresponsible.”
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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