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.
