Interior Department Announces “Strategic Plan” to Fire Employees, Build AI Data Centers, and Sell Public Lands
Our Public Lands & Waters reports that the Interior Department's 2026-2030 Strategic Plan calls for shrinking its workforce, offering states, localities, and Tribes the chance to buy federal lands, and building AI data centers on public lands, without saying how many staff will be cut or which lands would be sold — and that a new BLM rule proposed the same day would cut public and governors' comment periods on planning decisions. Critics including Land Tawney, who nicknamed Burgum "Data Center Doug," Kate Groetzinger, who says the plan and the Senate permitting bill are a death sentence for public lands, and Representative Jared Huffman denounce it; the post urges readers to oppose the BAAJA permitting bill and comment on the BLM rule through January 11, 2027.
