Former Reclamation leader calls for Trump to demolish agency

By Jennifer Yachnin | 11/15/2024 04:23 PM EST

Dan Beard wrote a book on why the Bureau of Reclamation should be dismantled.

Water flows from jet tubes at the Glen Canyon Dam.

Water flows from jet tubes at the Glen Canyon Dam on March 5, 2008, in Page, Arizona. Matt York/AP

A top Clinton administration official wants to see President-elect Donald Trump’s government-downsizing commission clear an entire agency off the books by dissolving the Bureau of Reclamation.

Dan Beard, who served as Reclamation commissioner from 1993 to 1995, asserted his former agency should be among the first cuts made by the new Department of Government Efficiency.

“I can’t think of a better agenda item for the new Department of Government Efficiency than beginning the process to abolish the Bureau of Reclamation,” Beard told The Hill newspaper.

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Beard has long argued that Reclamation has outlived its purpose and should be dismantled, including authoring the 2015 book “Deadbeat Dams: Why We Should Abolish the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and Tear Down Glen Canyon Dam.”

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