Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt is pushing the U.S. Geological Survey to relocate its western regional headquarters outside the expensive San Francisco Bay area.
The regional headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., is home to numerous labs, including the earthquake hazards reduction program, and has 810 employees. According to a memo from USGS Director Gordon Eaton to Western Regional Director Thomas Casadevall, Babbitt is concerned about the "high cost of operating in the area, with cost increases expected to continue, and the critical need for the USGS to be located near [Interior Department] sister bureaus."
Babbitt ordered two buildings to be vacated by the end of fiscal 1998 and all pending and proposed lease renewals to be canceled. The regional director has just over a month to submit a review of alternatives for relocating western operations outside Menlo Park.
A USGS spokesman said Babbitt made "no explicit call for staff reductions."
Babbitt's orders are puzzling to many in the USGS. Last year the General Services Administration completed a $44 million building at the Menlo Park headquarters specially designed for USGS lab activities. And it is not clear how locating USGS operations near other Interior Department facilities would affect their interaction.
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