Chattahoochee Riverkeepers want DOGE to reverse lease terminations at federal offices in GA
In February, over a dozen government offices in the Atlanta area were set to have their leases terminated by President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency.
Six of the offices do key environmental work across the Southeast, including forest and conservation initiatives, water quality management, stream flow management, dam oversight, and habitat and wildlife protection:
The U.S. Forest Service Region 8 office in Atlanta
The U.S. Geological Survey Southeast region office in Norcross
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Southeast region office in Atlanta
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Southeast office in Duluth
The Natural Resource Conservation Service in Griffin
Environmental Protection Agency office in Norcross
Chattahoochee Riverkeepers, a river watchdog nonprofit that works to keep water clean and safe in the River, have raised alarm about the lease cancellations. CRK works with the USGS Norcross office for a BacteriAlert program that tests water quality. The group is concerned about the viability of the program now that the office is closing.
The program has three testing sites along the Chattahoochee in Atlanta that provide weekly testing and create real-time water quality data for people who want to be on the river. BacteriAlert has been instrumental in detecting the wastewater treatment plant failure from Atlanta within the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, according to CRK.
“BacteriAlert helped us figure out the Big Creek Water Treatment Plant failure,” Chris Manganiello, Chattahoochee Riverkeeper water policy director, said. “Without that system who knows when we would have discovered waste water treatment plant failure spewing minimally treated waste water into the river.”
‘Can’t pick the people up and move them’
The USGS office in Norcross, called the South Atlantic Water Science Center, provides what the Riverkeepers called “critical and vital” services, such as housing equipment, a designated laboratory, a workshop storage space, and supports monitoring activities in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.
“The facility has been built out to specifications to serve the purposes of providing parking lots for boats and trucks and equipment, workshops, lab space,” Manganiello said. “This is not like a bunch of office workers in a cubicle. You can’t pick the people up and move them to another location. It serves the facilities specific needs and functions and work.”
Last week the Riverkeepers sent a letter to Georgia representatives, urging reconsideration of the decision to terminate the lease for the Norcross office because of “its critical public safety and services the facility and staff provide to Georgia.”
Democratic Rep. Sanford Bishop, whose district covers Columbus, and Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff both were sent the letter. Neither responded to request for comment prior to publication.
“The USGS have been collecting data on stream flow since the 1800s, the data is instrumental in water management decisions on a daily basis,” Manganiello said.
A gauge monitor on the 14th street bridge in Columbus, which measures water levels, streamflow and rainfall, is monitored out of the Norcross office.
Vic Burchfield, vice president of Columbus Water Works, told the Ledger-Enquirer the gauge is “a key monitoring point for the river” for the water company and for the Army Corps of Engineers.
Manganiello hopes Georgia leaders see the USGS termination as a mistake.
Some terminations have been reversed across the country.
A nuclear repository waste site lease termination was reversed in New Mexico, a National Park Service location in Fairbanks, Alaska, was brought back to life by Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan who advocated for this park office to get off the DOGE list.
Why is DOGE cutting these offices?
DOGE is a cost-saving initiative launched by Trump’s administration and is publicly led by Elon Musk. The goal is “to reduce the waste and fraud (in federal government) by $4 billion per day every day,” Musk said publicly for the first time in an interview on Fox News last week, “and so far we’re succeeding.”
The lease terminations for the 16 federal agency buildings in Georgia total $10 million in savings, according to the DOGE website, and for the entire U.S. that number is $400 million across 679 leases terminated.
Musk acknowledged that his Department of Government Efficiency makes mistakes during the Fox interview.
“When we do make mistakes, we correct them quickly,” he said.
The USGS Norcross office savings is around $1.3 million, according to the DOGE website.
Are leases actually terminated? Wait and see
Victor Engel, the director of the USGS, was still working out of the Norcross office Friday despite the decision to terminate the lease on Feb. 25.
“We’re assuming it’s going to close, but it’s still sort of unknown,” Manganiello said.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in Atlanta, out of Duluth, is slated for lease termination per DOGE’s “Wall of Receipts” list. That could save around $500,000, according to DOGE.
This regional FERC office oversees 12 Southern states.
“Our office inspects all the non-federal hydropower dams regulated by FERC – that would include the dams in town in Columbus,” Regional Engineer Will Brown said to the Ledger-Enquirer.
Engel and Brown both directed the Ledger-Enquirer to the office of external affairs regarding any lease termination questions. Both did not have any information regarding the status of their lease and still are showing up to the office.
The FERC office of external affairs released this statement:
“We are aware of the listing of that office on the DOGE website. In compliance with prior direction from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), we are assessing our real estate expenses to ensure cost efficiency. Our goal, as always, is to maintain FERC’s critically essential missions and services and retain the employees necessary to perform those essential functions.”
The Department of Interior, which the USGS is within, released this statement:
“We are actively working with (the Government Services Administration) to ensure that every facility and asset is utilized effectively and where necessary identifying alternative solutions that strengthen our mission. These efforts reflect our broader commitment to streamlining the government operations while ensuring scientific endeavors remain strong, effective and impactful. This process is ongoing and we will provide updates as more information becomes available.”
The GSA is like a landlord for federal agencies, said Cathy Rineer-Garber, who does public affairs for the Southeast region in Atlanta.
When asked for details on when terminated leases will end and how, how tenants were notified and whether savings on the DOGE website were related to monthly leases or annual costs, Rineer-Garber said she didn’t have the answer to “any of that.” But she said GSA constantly communicates with customer agencies to ensure they’re aware of GSA actions and get the best possible workplace solutions.
“As leases enter their soft term, we are sending letters of intent to customer agencies to inform them GSA is considering lease termination (thereby exercising GSA’s contractual rights as agreed upon with our lessors),” the statement provided by Rineer-Garber said. “Actively managing leases gives GSA the opportunity to work closely with our partner agencies on their evolving and longer term needs and will often allow us to enhance space utilization and secure better terms for the government – including better pricing.
“In instances where the current space remains the most suitable option—whether temporarily or longer term—we are adjusting our approach. For these agencies, we are either rescinding termination notices or, in some cases, not issuing them at all.”
The U.S. Forest Service office and the Natural Resource Conservation Service both fall under the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which said Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins supports Trump’s directive to eliminate wasteful spending. The USDA said it was optimizing building capacity and consolidating underused offices, and still was prioritizing agricultural and rural U.S. residents and communities.
When asked about the EPA office being shuttered, officials said the building might be a storage facility and the EPA still was working with GSA to ensure critical functions weren’t interrupted.
Musk called what DOGE is doing “A revolution,” during the Fox Interview last week.
“And I think it might be the biggest revolution in government since the original revolution. But at the end of the day, America’s going to be in much better shape.”
To date, DOGE claims it has saved Americans $130 billion, or $807.45 per taxpayer.
This story was originally published March 31, 2025 at 1:22 PM.
