White House to eject environmental advisers from their historic main headquarters

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Photo Source: White House

The White House on Friday will move its Council on Environmental Quality out of its main headquarters at 722 Jackson Place, a red brick townhouse it has occupied since it was established more than four decades ago.

While some White House CEQ staffers will remain in adjoining townhouses, the shift means the council will lose its main conference room. While the influence of CEQ waxes and wanes depending on which president is in office, it traditionally plays a key role in executing the White House’s overall environmental agenda and coordinating key decisions among different agencies. The number of staffers also varies widely at different times, and includes employees detailed from other agencies. At the end of former president Barack Obama’s term, the number of staffers had shrunk to roughly 15, but at one point under Bill Clinton it was more than three times that size.

Christy Goldfuss, who was CEQ’s managing director under Obama and now serves as vice president for energy and environment policy at the liberal think tank Center for American Progress, said the decision to transfer its headquarters reflects the Trump administration’s “overall approach to CEQ in general,” where it ranks as a low priority.

Noting that “there was no discussion between the transition team and CEQ” in the months between the November election and Trump’s inauguration, Goldfuss added, “There is little regard for environmental policy. And moving the staff that’s responsible for speaking to the public about environmental policy out of their home just highlights the agenda to disregard the environment and the public interest.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. At 722 Jackson Place on Thursday, workers were packing up boxes in preparation for the move.

President Donald Trump has not yet nominated anyone to chair CEQ, and a career employee is working as acting director out of the Old Executive Office Building. The president has also yet to name nominees for other key environmental posts, including his science environment and the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

(c) 2017, The Washington Post ยท Juliet Eilperin

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