This Week at Interior October 8, 2021

Transcript:

This Week at Interior  

Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environment Enforcement is part of the unified command responding this week to an oil spill off the coast of Orange County, California. BSEE shares responsibility for managing the pipeline with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, the California State Fire Marshal and the California Department of Conservation. While the U.S. Coast Guard is leading containment and cleanup efforts, BSEE, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and other Interior offices are assisting in the response. 

Secretary Haaland took part in two listening sessions this week, as Interior continues to mark Hispanic Heritage Month. The first session with Hispanic and Latino elected officials included the Governor of Puerto Rico, Pedro Pierluisi. And the second session, hosted by the League of United Latin American Citizens, focused on the role and presence of Latinos in the conservation movement. 

The Secretary this week announced $348 million for 62 projects in Nevada and the California side of the Lake Tahoe Basin. Those projects are dedicated to recreation improvement, wildlife habitat conservation, hazardous fuels reduction, wildfire prevention, and other purposes through the sale of public lands under the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act. 

Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland and Bureau of Indian Education Director Tony Dearman led a forum this week for students and their families, addressing COVID-19 vaccinations, and discussing the best ways to provide the safest, in-person educational environment possible. All educators at BIE schools must be fully vaccinated by October 15th. The forum was conducted in coordination with the CDC and the Indian Health Service. 

Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey are keeping a watching eye this week on Hawai'i's Mount Kilauea volcano after its latest eruption. Over the past several days a layer of molten lava nearly 90-feet thick has accumulated at the base of the crater. The eruption is currently confined within Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, and USGS expects it will remain within the summit region. 

The National Park Service's American Battlefield Protection Program awarded more than $900,000 to its preservation partners across the country this week. Among the recipients was the Fort Ticonderoga Association, which will use the funding to increase access to the National Historic Landmark known as Liberty Hill. The site was occupied and reoccupied by Continental, British, Native American and German troops throughout the Revolutionary War. 

Vice President Harris kicked off the Combined Federal Campaign this week. That's the official workplace giving campaign for federal employees and retirees, which has raised more than eight and a half billion dollars for charities and people in need for the last 60 years. Secretary Haaland is the co-chair of this year's campaign, which runs through January 15th, 2022.  

And our social media Picture of the Week, this majestic bighorn sheep at Glacier National Park in Montana. It's one of more than seventy species of mammal that call the park home...it's also one of very few that can survive the park's frigid winters at high elevations. Glacier National Park has over a million acres, and it's surrounded by national forests and wilderness areas where there's plenty of room to roam, whether you're a sheep or not. 

Make sure you follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and You Tube.    

That’s This Week, at Interior 

This Week: Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environment Enforcement is part of the response to the Southern California oil spill; Secretary Haaland takes part in listening sessions as Interior continues to mark Hispanic Heritage Month; Interior announces $348 million for 62 projects in the Lake Tahoe Basin; a forum took place for Bureau of Indian Education students and families addressing COVID-19 vaccinations and a safe in-person educational environment; U.S. Geological Survey scientists are keeping a watchful eye during the latest eruption of Hawai'i's Mount Kilauea volcano; the National Park Service's American Battlefield Protection Program awards more than $900,000 to its preservation partners across the country; Vice President Harris kicks off the Combined Federal Campaign, the official workplace giving campaign for federal employees and retirees; and we head to Glacier National Park for our social media Picture of the Week! 

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    04/11/2025

    This Week at Interior April 11, 2025

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    This Week at Interior

    President Trump this week signed Executive Orders aimed at achieving the Administration's goal of American Energy Dominance with a renewed focus on coal. One of the orders directs Interior to identify untapped coal resources on federal lands, while removing barriers to mining and leasing.

    The value of untapped coal in our country is one hundred times greater than the value of all the gold at Fort Knox, and we're going to unleash it and make America rich and powerful again.

    To advance the President Trump's order, Interior will implement a series of policy moves and regulatory reforms to position coal as a cornerstone of the nation’s energy strategy by ensuring federally managed lands remain open and accessible for responsible energy development. Secretary Burgum likened the actions to creating a new Golden Age of "Mine, Baby, Mine," saying that  

    Interior is unlocking America’s full potential in energy dominance and economic development to make life more affordable for every American family while showing the world the power of America’s natural resources and innovation.  

    Among the actions are ending the moratorium on federal coal leasing, reopening federal lands in Montana and Wyoming to coal leasing, removing regulatory burdens for coal mines, and providing royalty rate relief.  

    Interior this week announced the disbursement of more than $13 million in grants to support the reclamation of abandoned mine lands, furthering the Trump administration’s commitment to American Energy Dominance, environmental stewardship and economic renewal in coal communities. The funding is administered through the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, and it will support job creation and economic revitalization efforts in North Dakota, Tennessee and Texas.  

    Interior this week announced the release of updated oil and gas reserve estimates for the Gulf of America's Outer Continental Shelf. The new data and analysis over the last couple of years reveal an additional 1.3 billion barrels of oil equivalent since 2021, bringing the total reserve estimate to 7.04 billion barrels of oil equivalent. That figure includes 5.77 billion barrels of oil and 7.15 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Earlier this year, the Trump administration announced plans to significantly increase oil and gas leasing on the Outer Continental Shelf, and just last week Secretary Burgum directed the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to hold the first Gulf of America oil and gas lease sale since its renaming in February.

    Secretary Burgum held his first All Hands meeting this week at Interior's historic Yates Auditorium. The Secretary saluted the notable accomplishments the Department has achieved in making the transition from the previous administration, and expanded on his vision that innovation, rather than regulation, is the cornerstone of American prosperity.

    The thing that has led our country for 250 years is innovation, doesn't matter whether it's the Agricultural Revolution, the Industrial Revolution our ability to innovate in a way that allowed us to win World War One and World War II and lead the world and become the world leader, all of it was innovation based, and we have to get back to those roots. That's how we win. That's how America wins in this world, that's how we win again for our children and our children's children, is we win with innovation.

    U.S. Geological Survey crews were deployed late last week and this week to monitor flood impacts after storms dumped heavy rain across portions of the southeast and Midwest. Crews are still hard at work gathering flood measurements in Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois and Ohio, as well as West Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi, where as much as ten inches of rain fell causing massive flooding. The gages provide information for the National Weather Service to predict when dangerous flooding might occur and allow for warnings to vulnerable residents, as flood crests will continue into early May.

    And our social media Picture of the Week, California's Battery Point Lighthouse. Perched on California's rugged northern coast, this historic beacon stands among the rocky outcrops of the California Coastal National Monument and has guided mariners since its first lighting in 1856.

    Make sure you follow us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and X! That's This Week at Interior!


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    News and headlines from Interior April 11, 2025

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