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Former oil executive and representative of government efficiency for Elon Musk is given extensive authority to make major changes to the Home Office, which is tasked with overseeing national parks and overseeing more than 500 million acres of federal land.
The move also includes conservation groups that included those who accused Interior Secretary Doug Burgham, who stepped in to give masks, and those who accused firepark rangers, public land managers and wildfire experts around the country of giving “culte blanches.”
The order was signed by Burgham on Thursday, and Tyler Hassen cleaned up the Home Office’s authority to “impact the integration, unity and optimization of management functions.”
The order gives Hassen the authority to change the funds and directives of the department.
Hassen was recently appointed secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs’ Policy, Management and Budget.
Prior to this post, Hassen was the CEO of Basin Energy. On its website, the company describes itself as a “green energy metal exploration and development company.” Hassen is formerly the Chief Financial Officer of Basin Holdings, a “Global Diversified Oil Fields/Industrial Supply and Services Company,” according to the LinkedIn page.
More recently, however, Hassen was portrayed in a Doge social media post about the organization’s efforts to increase the amount of federal government pumped water flowing towards Southern California in January.
The move was pushed by President Donald Trump during the California wildfires. Trump allegedly used the military to force the nation to increase the amount of water being pumped. The Los Angeles Times discovered that the facility supplies less water for regular maintenance. California’s Department of Water Resources also rebutted the president’s claims, noting that the pumps had been offline for three days for maintenance.
In a statement, the Western Priority Centre, which describes it as a nonpartisan land conservation policy body, criticized the order that gives Hassen such broad authority over the department.
“If Doug Burgham doesn’t want this job, he should stop right now,” said Jennifer Lokara, executive director of the statement’s organization. “Instead, Bulghum appears to be sitting by the fire and eating hot cookies, but Elon Musk’s lucky will demolish our national parks and public lands.”
The move said in a statement it effectively deployed unelected Doge officials to take charge of the national park.
“They don’t know how to manage forests or prepare for fires at wild urban interfaces,” Lokara said. “But Doug Burgham just gave it to the Doge Free Line.”
A spokesman for the Department of Interior has criticised the Western Priority Center, calling it an “anti-Trump organization defending practical and affordable energy development.”
“The secretary’s order will tell you [Assistant Secretary of Policy, Management and Budget] “We are pleased to announce that we are a great opportunity to see the government and provide a great opportunity to help our organization,” said Katherine Martin, a spokesman for the Ministry of Home Affairs. “Through this optimization effort, the department will continue to prioritize retaining first responders, parks, services and energy production employees.”
Other conservation groups have already taken legal action on Doge’s actions affecting national parks.
In March, the Sierra Club, along with scientists concerned, the Japanese American Citizens Federation and Asia-Pacific American supporters, filed a lawsuit against Musk and Doji, claiming that they acted beyond their power after making a massive layoff at the agency that oversees the national park.
The suit named the Defendants the Department of Personnel Management, Ministry of Education, Forestry Service, Bureau of Land Management and the National Maritime and Atmospheric Administration.
Athan Manuel, director of Lands Protection at Sierra Club, said the recent layoffs and decision to empower Doge officials to change the department are concerned, especially given what national parks around the country are already experiencing.
“Even before Trump came in, our public parks were understaffed from every way you see it,” he said. “This makes a bad situation even worse.”
Among the biggest concerns, Manuel said, Doge officials and the White House have a huge say in the Department of Home Affairs without having to experience supervisors or departments.
“They’ll be told by [presidential advisor] Stephen Miller or any other White House ideologue just cuts, cuts, cuts, cuts, without realizing that the outcome is on the ground. Treating them with the way they treat them is truly shaming the country and its citizens. ”
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