This Week at Interior June 28, 2024

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This Week at Interior  

Secretary Haaland joined federal, Tribal, state and community leaders this week to celebrate the acquisition of approximately 3,700 acres of land adjacent to the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument in New Mexico for recreational access. The Bureau of Land Management acquired the property from the Trust for Public Land, using funding from the Land and Water Conservation Fund. These new public lands will expand access to the national monument and the exceptional cultural and natural resources it protects, including access to a segment of the Old Spanish National Historic Trail. The area is also home to critical wildlife habitat and special status species, raptors, and other wildlife, which will benefit from the action.  

Interior this week was recognized for its efforts to phase out single-use plastics across public lands and build climate resilience through public-private partnerships. Acting Deputy Secretary Laura Daniel-Davis accepted the Presidential Federal Sustainability Award at a White House ceremony, celebrating those Interior employees who advance the initiatives. Secretary Haaland issued an order two years ago to reduce the procurement, sale and distribution of single-use plastic products and packaging with a goal of eventually phasing them out on Department-managed lands by 2032.  

Interior this week announced the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will hold a Central Atlantic offshore wind energy lease sale on August 14th. The areas to be auctioned could generate up to 6.3 gigawatts of clean, renewable energy and power up to 2.2 million homes. The announcement is part of the Administration’s latest actions to expand offshore wind energy opportunities and create good-paying jobs for American workers.  

Interior this week awarded $126.7 million in grant funding through President Biden’s Investing in America agenda for Alaska, Arizona, Indiana, New York and Ohio to address legacy pollution. Orphaned oil and gas wells are polluting backyards, recreation areas, and community spaces across the country, posing serious health and safety threats, and contributing to climate change. The funding for the five states is expected to address nearly 600 wells and support inventory efforts for future well-plugging operations.

Assistant Secretary for Insular and International Affairs Carmen Cantor this week led the United States-Palau bilateral economic consultations with Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr. and other government officials to discuss financial and economic goals under the newly approved 2023 Compact Review Agreement. She also announced $7.1 million in Technical Assistance Program funding provided by the Office of Insular Affairs to fund a Palau census, the listing of households, street naming and home addresses, as well as improving water quality and treatment.

Interior this week announced over $620 million in funding for more than 1,900 local communities nationwide. The funds are known as PILT, or Payment in Lieu of Taxes. That's money that Interior reimburses local jurisdictions, compensating them for the non-taxable federal lands within their boundaries. PILT payments help local governments carry out vital services, everything from firefighting and police protection to public school improvements and road construction.  

Secretary Haaland and National Park Service Director Chuck Sams this week kicked off the Smithsonian’s annual Folklife Festival on the National Mall. This year, the festival convenes Indigenous artists, professional chefs, musicians and storytellers, among others, for a week-long celebration of Indigenous cultures and traditions. In her remarks, the Secretary discussed the importance of telling America’s story and Interior’s efforts to do just that through the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative and its subsequent oral history project.  

And our social media Picture of the Week, the stunning pink salt flats at Cabo Rojo National Wildlife Refuge in Puerto Rico. But why is it pink? It turns out the lagoon acquires its gorgeous color thanks to a combination of algae, bacteria, salt and water.

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That's This Week at Interior! 
 

This Week: Secretary Haaland celebrates the acquisition of 3,700 acres for Rio Grande del Norte National Monument in New Mexico; Interior is recognized for its efforts to phase out single-use plastics across public lands; the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will hold a Central Atlantic offshore wind energy lease sale in August; $126.7 million in grant funding will address legacy pollution in five states; the Office of Insular and International Affairs announces $7.1 million in Technical Assistance Program funding for Palau; more than $620 million is distributed to 1,900 communities nationwide under the Payment in Lieu of Taxes program; Secretary Haaland helps kick off the Smithsonian’s annual Folklife Festival on the National Mall; and we'll show you why our social media Picture of the Week is painted in shades of pink!

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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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