This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for their newsletter here.
By Amy Green, Inside Climate News
The Trump administration is aiming to terminate its lease on the Florida headquarters of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the federal agency overseeing a historic effort to restore the Everglades and secure the future drinking water supply across the fast-growing region.
The Army Corps’ Jacksonville district also is responsible for hurricane response in the state, among other duties. Jacksonville is among three headquarters for which the Trump administration has plans to terminate the lease, said Michelle Roberts, spokeswoman for the Jacksonville district. The others are Charleston and Chicago, along with two specialty offices and various field offices around the country.
Some 800 of the Army Corps’ 1,140 employees in Florida work in the Jacksonville building, with other employees based in South Florida and at field offices across the state. The Trump administration informed Bradford Allen, a commercial real estate firm that manages the building, in a letter last week that it planned to terminate the lease effective Aug. 31, Roberts told Inside Climate News. Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, behind many of the Trump administration’s moves to dismantle agencies, indicated on its website the lease termination would result in a savings of more than $4.3 million.
The development has left the federal agency’s employees in Jacksonville in limbo, Roberts said. Additionally, staffers at other agencies had requested to work in the building as part of the Trump administration’s order that federal employees return to the office and discontinue remote work. A potential move would come near the height of hurricane season. The Army Corps has occupied the building since 2007.
“The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville District is aware of the various initiatives related to reshaping the federal workforce and the potential termination of the lease for our building,” she said. “We have not received notification to release any employees at this time or an official directive to move, and thus can’t speculate on any potential impacts. Our commitment to serving the nation and her citizens remains as unwavering as it has for the past 250 years.”
The Trump administration published a list Tuesday of more than 440 federal properties it planned to sell or close. Hours later the General Services Administration issued a revised list of 320 properties, and now it appears the list has been removed from the agency’s website altogether. The agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The DOGE website lists 748 lease terminations totaling $660 million in savings.
In Florida, the Army Corps is the federal partner with the state in a $23 billion effort to restore the Everglades, among the most ambitious attempts at ecological restoration in human history. The watershed represents Florida’s most important freshwater resource and is responsible for the drinking water of some 9 million people in central and south Florida.
Cara Capp, greater Everglades associate director for the National Parks Conservation Association, characterized the Trump administration’s plan to terminate the Army Corps’ lease in Jacksonville as shocking.
“People have been shocked to hear that the Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville District headquarters is on the chopping block,” she said. “In Florida we have such strong bipartisan support for Everglades restoration. So these DOGE cuts that are coming for the Army Corps and the Parks Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service, it’s just contrary to our goals of restoring the Everglades, and I think that is why we’re hearing people are really upset.”
She continued: “We’re also really concerned just about the people and what this is going to mean for their lives. Because there’s really no information. Will they be asked to relocate? Will they be given the opportunity to work somewhere else?”
The Army Corps also assists the state and local governments in preparing for and cleaning up after hurricanes. Among the federal agency’s responsibilities are the Herbert Hoover Dike that contains Lake Okeechobee, the state’s largest lake, and beaches that serve as an important economic driver and buffer protecting the coastlines from the violence of the storms. The Jacksonville district’s territory includes most of Florida and a small portion of Georgia.
“The Army Corps of Engineers is the lead federal partner in Everglades restoration. They are responsible for Lake Okeechobee management, construction of restoration projects and leading the in-depth federal reviews that aim to ensure projects do more good than harm,” said Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades. “Who fills this role if the Army Corps is pushed aside? Where do the decades of institutional knowledge go? If the state of Florida steps in, how can we be assured federal environmental regulations are adhered to?”
Roberts said Bradford Allen’s lawyers have responded to the Trump administration’s letter about the lease. She said the Army Corps is working with the administration and Army to review the situation and determine the best next steps. Bradford Allen could not immediately be reached for comment.
Amy Green covers the environment and climate change from Orlando. She is a mid-career journalist and author whose extensive reporting on the Everglades is featured in the book “Moving Water,” published by Johns Hopkins University Press, and podcast “Drained,” available wherever you get your podcasts. Amy’s work has been recognized with many awards, including a prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award and Public Media Journalists Association award.
Banner photo: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers delivered water pumps to Lakeland to relieve flooding to homes (Mark Rankin/U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District; via Defense Visual Information Distribution Service).
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