Central Coast representatives Salud Carbajal, Jimmy Panetta, and Julia Brownley signed a letter to Acting Administrator Stephen Ehikian of the General Services Administration on April 3 seeking to halt what they describe as the Trump administration’s “illegal plans” to close critical federal facilities in Santa Barbara, Ventura, and San Luis Obispo counties.
The planned closures include facilities associated with the U.S. Department of Interior (DOI), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the United States Forest Service (USFS).
Created by Congress more than a century ago, the DOI manages the outdoor industry economy and public lands, which in 2023 supported 39,678 jobs with the $3.2 billion garnered from national park visitors, according to the representatives’ letter. NOAA data is used to support one-third of the nation’s gross domestic product, additionally providing critical information on weather reporting and storm warnings. (The Trump administration has targeted a couple of properties NOAA currently leases from the City of Santa Barbara.) The USDA oversees food safety and management of natural resources, which representatives mentioned is critical to supporting California, the state being the world’s largest agricultural producer in 2022. Additionally, USFS ensures fire-safety and oversees 193 million acres of public land.
The representatives demanded to know under what authority these organizations are taking cuts, especially without consulting Congress. “Efforts to justify these closures as a measure to help better serve the American people is, at best, disingenuous,” closed the representatives.
