This Week at Interior October 21, 2022

Transcript:

Hey, I’m Corey Miller, at the Lexington Field Office of the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, and you’re watching This Week at Interior. 

This Week at Interior 

Interior commemorated “Legacy Pollution Week” to honor the work that's been done, and the opportunities ahead, as we implement a historic $16 billion investment to clean up orphaned oil and gas wells and abandoned mine land sites, while protecting thousands of communities from toxins and waste. Department leaders traveled to Kentucky, Louisiana and Illinois to meet with labor leaders and highlight new investments in these programs. While in Kentucky, Secretary Haaland announced a $74 million award from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for the state to reclaim abandoned mine lands this year. The Department also announced nearly $10 million for new projects this week to address polluted ecosystems and reclaim abandoned mine land sites across the country.  

President Biden signed the Blackwell School National Historic Site Act this week. It designates the Blackwell School site in Marfa, Texas, as part of the National Park System. The designation will permanently protect the site for future generations and help tell the story of Texas school districts that established separate elementary schools for Mexican American children through the practice of de facto segregation.  

Interior this week announced that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will hold an offshore wind lease sale on December 6th for areas off central and northern California. It's the first-ever offshore wind lease sale on America’s west coast and the first-ever U.S. sale to support potential commercial-scale floating offshore wind energy development. 

Interior made more history this week, announcing that for the first time ever, the Department will require formal consultation with the Native Hawaiian Community. Secretary Haaland said the “new and unprecedented consultation policy will help support Native Hawaiian sovereignty and self-determination as we continue to uphold the right of the Native Hawaiian Community to self-government." 

$210 million from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will help bring clean, reliable drinking water to communities across the West. The Bureau of Reclamation this week announced new funding for water storage and conveyance projects in five states. The projects are expected to develop over 1.7 million acre-feet of additional water storage capacity, enough water to support 6.8 million people for a year. 

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service this week announced more than $100 million in grants and matching partner funds to 16 states and Guam to support land acquisition and conservation planning projects. Those projects span more than 13,000 acres of habitat for 162 listed and at-risk species on non-federal lands. 

Millions of people across the country and around the world this week were practicing how to drop, cover and hold on during the Great ShakeOut Earthquake Drills. Nearly half of all Americans are exposed to potentially damaging earthquakes where they live and work. It’s important for everyone, everywhere to know how to protect themselves during an earthquake. 

The National Park Service this week announced details for the 100th lighting of the National Christmas Tree. The lighting ceremony will take place on November 30th. The lottery for the free tickets to the event opens at 10am on October 25th and closes at 10am on November 1st. The National Christmas Tree area opens to the public on December 2nd, and the Lighting Ceremony will be broadcast on December 11th. Find out more on recreation.gov. 

And our social media Picture of the Week, this gorgeous sunrise from the top of Acadia National Park's Cadillac Mountain in Maine. It's the highest point along the North Atlantic seacoast, and from October through March, the first place where the sun appears each morning in the continental United States. 

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

That's This Week, at Interior.

This Week: Interior commemorates “Legacy Pollution Week” as we implement a historic $16 billion investment from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to clean up abandoned mine land sites and orphaned oil and gas wells; a small Texas school is helping to tell the story of the struggle for equal rights for Mexican Americans; the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will hold the first-ever offshore wind lease sale on America’s west coast; a new and unprecedented consultation policy will help support Native Hawaiian sovereignty and self-determination; $210 million will help bring clean, reliable drinking water to communities across the West; more than $100 million in U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grants and matching partner funds is heading to 16 states and Guam for land acquisition and conservation planning projects; millions of people across the country and around the world practice how to drop, cover and hold on during Great ShakeOut Earthquake Drills; the National Park Service announces details for the 100th lighting of the National Christmas Tree; and we'll show you where the sun rises first in 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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