Wyoming
DOGE lists 5 Wyoming federal office leases terminated. One is a Green River mine safety branch
This is an evolving story and Wyoming Public Radio will update this story as we learn more.
Real estate leases for five federal offices in Wyoming are supposedly being terminated, including one intended to keep miner’s safe, according to a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) website. There are conflicting reports and details have been hard to confirm. One office was unaware of the supposed closure.
There have been reports indicating inaccuracies on the DOGE website.
Over the last few days, at least 748 real estate leases for federal offices across the nation were added to a terminated list on the DOGE website, as part of Pres. Trump’s plan to reduce the size of the federal government.
One of those was the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) field office in Green River.
“Just like the language they use to identify the spending being reckless and wasteful, this is reckless and irresponsible,” said Marshal Cummings, a Green River trona miner and local union president.
The website also listed 28 other MSHA offices nationwide. They are scattered across the country and near areas with heavy mine activity.
“Say there is a disaster, and MSHA needs to be there right now. That’s what the field office is there for,” Cummings said.
The Green River office is in Sweetwater County and near Lincoln County. Both areas have heavy trona and coal mine activity. MSHA oversees that companies and workers are complying with safety standards – everything from silica dust standards to prevent the deadly black lung disease, to proper use of machinery equipment, to updating old electrical systems to prevent fire.
“If people that I represent, or any of my fellow miners in southwest Wyoming have injury or, God forbid, they die, because someone decides that they can cut MSHA, I hope we have the resources to go after them [DOGE] criminally,” Cummings said.
He added that prior to MSHA forming in 1977, there was one of the worst mining incidents in American history: the Sunshine Mine disaster in Kellogg, Idaho. In 1972, a fire broke out in the mine and killed 91 miners. It served as a catalyst for forming MSHA.
Cummings said he spoke to the Green River office and as of now it’s open and unaware of the closure.
The following are all of the Wyoming federal offices included in DOGE’s list, along with Wyoming Public Radio’s (WPR) attempts to verify the information. WPR sent a list of specific questions, including whether leases were set for termination, how many people work in the office and whether those employees would be moved or also terminated. Agencies responded with the following statements.
- Social Security Administration in Rock Springs
- Response from a Social Security spokesperson: “We are working with GSA (General Services Administration) to review our leases and ensure they are used efficiently. Most of the leases we are not renewing are for small remote hearing sites that are co-located with other Federal space. As the majority of our hearings are held virtually, we no longer need as many in-person hearings locations. In fact, in FY24, twenty percent of these offices held no in-person hearings. Other offices are non-public facing, being consolidated into nearby locations, or we had planned to close. Social Security continuously monitors and evaluates the use of our office space to maximize efficiency for the American taxpayer.”
- Office of U.S. Attorneys in Lander
- A public information officer (PIO) for the U.S. Attorneys Office District of Wyoming said the GSA contacted the Lander office early last week to notify them that their lease would not be renewed. Later that week, GSA called again, saying they had received misinformation and that the Lander office would not be affected.
- In a follow-up email, the PIO said the Dick Cheney Federal Building in Casper, where the U.S. Attorney’s Office has a branch, is going to be sold. The GSA site the PIO shared no longer shows the list of “non-core property” slated for disposal, but did earlier in the week when WPR reviewed it. A previous version of the webpage from March 4 to 6 is accessible through the Wayback Machine.
- Geological Survey in Cheyenne
- Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in Cheyenne
- Mine Safety and Health Administration field office in Green River
- WPR called. Someone answered and said they’re not allowed to speak about the DOGE listing and hung up.
- WPR reached out to the owner of the building who didn’t reply to an email and hung up when WPR called.
One additional office was not listed on DOGE, but included in a list of office terminations compiled by U.S. House Natural Resources Committee Democrats.
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Lander
- No comment.
- The Lander Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office assists the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribes of the Wind River Reservation with fisheries and wildlife conservation, according to its website.
Several of the offices directed WPR to reach out to the GSA, as they oversee government real estate leases. The following was their response:
“Acting Administrator (Stephen) Ehikian’s vision for GSA includes reducing our deferred maintenance liabilities, supporting the return to office of federal employees, and taking advantage of a stronger private/government partnership in managing the workforce of the future. GSA is reviewing all options to optimize our footprint and building utilization. A component of our space consolidation plan will be the termination of many soft term leases. To the extent these terminations affect public facing facilities and/or existing tenants, we are working with our agency partners to secure suitable alternative space.”
WPR will work to continue to verify the information.
CASPER, Wyo. — High school athletics in Wyoming could see some drastic changes in the coming years following legislative changes to the state’s education budget, the Wyoming High School Activities Association recently announced in a statement.
According to the WHSAA, Wyoming school districts are facing a projected $3.9 million shortfall in activities funding, forcing officials to consider significant cuts to high school sports and extracurricular programs.
The WHSAA shared details regarding a new “silo” funding model implemented by the Legislature, stating that the recalibrated block grant model reduced funding for student activities and extra-duty responsibilities from $46.3 million to $42.4 million, an approximately 8.4% decrease statewide.
WHSAA Commissioner Trevor Wilson said the restructuring also restricts district access to an additional $76.2 million in previously flexible funding.
“A significant portion of the [April 28 WHSAA Board of Directors] meeting was dedicated to discussing the projected funding shortfall,” Wilson wrote.
The WHSAA is weighing several strategies to address rising costs with fewer resources. Proposed changes include eliminating regional tournaments and reducing the number of teams qualifying for state events from eight to four; limiting wrestling to two classes and restricting track and field state participants to the top 16 marks; making cuts to soccer, indoor track and field, Nordic and Alpine skiing, swimming and diving, spring golf and tennis; and reducing in-person speech and debate events by half and centrally locating All-State Music events to minimize travel. The board also recommended increasing gate admission or implementing student participation fees to offset costs.
While the WHSAA release states that no plans have been finalized and the various changes are currently just possibilities, Natrona County School District 1 Board of Trustees member Mary Schmidt criticized the WHSAA’s handling of the news at Monday’s board meeting.
“I take some issues with this, [including] the sheer fact that we as Board of Trustees members have not talked about that at all,” Schmidt said. “It is not our intent and it has not been brought to us to cut our athletics or activities budget for the upcoming school year. … I take issue with them picking sports and getting the community upset and ginning them up to be upset that this is all going to be cut when that hasn’t been discussed.”
Later in the meeting, Superintendent Angela Hensley clarified that Natrona County School District 1’s athletics and activities budget saw a reduction of roughly $550,000 in the coming year’s budget, but said the local school district does not plan to cut any sports.
“Thank you, Trustee Schmidt, for saying this, because I think people are wondering — we are not planning to cut athletics and activities for next year,” Hensley said. “We do have to take a look at our entire budget as we have talked about, as we learn more about these new rules that come in.”
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Republished with permission from Wyoming News Now, a TV news outlet covering the Cheyenne and Casper areas.
Cheyenne City Council has introduced a temporary moratorium, or pause, on new data center construction.
“The end goal is to actually have regulations in place, to have really heavy public involvement with this with data centers,” said Councilman Mark Moody.
The proposed ordinance is not a permanent ban on data centers and would not affect data centers currently under construction.
Councilman Moody says this is a bipartisan issue.
“I just want to make this clear, I’m not against data centers. We do need them from a national security perspective,” he said.
He said there needs to be more public input and regulations regarding data centers in Cheyenne.
The ordinance would require city staff to study data center impacts such as electricity usage, electricity tariffs, closed-loop cooling systems, groundwater impacts, agricultural impacts, and land value.
Cheyenne LEADS, the economic development corporation for Cheyenne and Laramie County, reported in November 2025 that there are 12 operational data centers in Wyoming, five under construction and plans for 43 data centers announced across the state.
“There needs to be more public input with this, and also to see how many we can sustain here in this community, cause there are talks of 43, and then another day 70. How many can we sustain here?” said Councilman Moody.
The proposed moratorium will now go to the Public Services Committee on Monday, May 18 at noon in the Municipal Building.
Sheridan will play in the North Regional Tournament at Gillette, while the South Regional Tournament will be played at Rock Springs.
North Regional Tournament at Gillette:
Checking record vs. highest team in the quadrant not involved in the tie, Thunder Basin gets the #1 Northeast seed over Campbell County, because the Lady Bolts went 3-1 vs. Sheridan, whereas the Lady Camels went 2-2.
Friday, May 15th:
(#1 NE) Thunder Basin vs. (#4 NW) Jackson – 11am
(#2 NW) Natrona County vs. (#3 NE) Sheridan – 11am
(#2 NE) Campbell County vs. (#3 NW) Kelly Walsh – 1pm
(#1 NW) Cody vs. (#4 NE) Worland – 1pm
Semi-Finals:
Thunder Basin/Jackson winner vs. Natrona County/Sheridan winner – 3pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Campbell County/Kelly Walsh winner vs. Cody/Worland winner – 5pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Consolation Round:
Thunder Basin/Jackson loser vs. Natrona County/Sheridan loser – 3pm LOSER OUT!
Campbell County/Kelly Walsh loser vs. Cody/Worland loser – 5pm LOSER OUT!
Saturday, May 16th:
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
2 10am winners vs. each other – 1pm 3rd Place
TBA vs. TBA – 1pm 1st Place
South Regional Tournament at Rock Springs:
Friday, May 15th:
(#1 SW) Laramie vs. (#4 SE) Torrington – 11am
(#2 SE) Cheyenne East vs. (#3 SW) Green River – 11am
(#2 SW) Rock Springs vs. (#3 SE) Wheatland – 1pm
(#1 SE) Cheyenne Central vs. (#4 SW) Cheyenne South – 1pm
Semi-Finals:
Laramie/Torrington winner vs. Cheyenne East/Green River winner – 3pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Rock Springs/Wheatland winner vs. Cheyenne Central/Cheyenne South winner – 5pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Consolation Round:
Laramie/Torrington loser vs. Cheyenne East/Green River loser – 3pm LOSER OUT!
Rock Springs/Wheatland loser vs. Cheyenne Central/Cheyenne South loser – 5pm LOSER OUT!
Saturday, May 16th:
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
2 10am winners vs. each other – 1pm 3rd Place
TBA vs. TBA – 1pm 1st Place
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