This Week at Interior November 15, 2024

Transcript:

I'm Jason Lawrence, Chief of Police, Winnebago Agency, and you're watching This Week at Interior!

This Week at Interior  

Secretary Haaland joined veterans and servicemembers this week for the 27th annual Military Women’s Memorial Veterans Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. She shared Interior's enduring commitment to support veterans in the federal service, as well as her personal connection to the military as the daughter of two servicemembers. Veterans and Gold Star families are eligible for a lifetime pass for free access to our nation’s national parks, national wildlife refuges, and national monuments. Check out store.usgs.gov.

Secretary Haaland traveled to the homelands of the Winnebago and Omaha Tribal Nations in Nebraska this week, where she took part in a bison transfer, and highlighted the Department’s work to expand Tribal herds and restore them to ancestral Indigenous lands with funding from the President’s Investing in America agenda. As many as 60 million bison once roamed the plains before western expansion drove that number down to as few as a thousand. Last year, the Department invested $25 million to empower its bureaus and partners to use the best available science and Indigenous Knowledge to help restore bison across the country.

Interior released a new report on the sweeping economic impact of the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which marks its third anniversary this week. The analysis shows the Department’s work to implement the law supported more than 28,000 jobs and contributed more than $3.3 billion to the economy in fiscal year 2024. The Law devotes an overall $28.1 billion over 15 years to the Department’s initiatives, including combatting legacy pollution, restoring critical habitats, addressing the drought crisis, assisting with wildland fire management, and helping communities prepare for extreme weather events.

The Bureau of Land Management this week updated its Central Yukon Resource Management Plan, which covers nearly 13.3 million acres of public lands in central and northern Alaska. It's a product of more than a decade of discussion and input from the public, Tribes, cooperating agencies, and stakeholders, and strikes a balance between responsible development and resource protection -- that includes important habitats for several fish and wildlife species and other subsistence resources that are vital to rural Alaskans, including Alaska Native communities.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Martha Williams attended a recent summit in South Africa, delivering remarks on combatting the illegal wildlife trade. She also engaged with wildlife conservation leaders and visited grantees from the Service’s International Affairs program, making stops to observe endangered plants and threatened species from African penguins to geometric tortoises.

And our social media Picture of the Week, just one of the many incredible sights along the Green River in Dinosaur National Monument. As it flows from Colorado into Utah, the river passes through famous fossil finds, dramatic river canyons, intriguing petroglyphs and endless opportunities for adventure.  

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

That's This Week at Interior!  
                                
 

This Week: Secretary Haaland joins veterans and servicemembers for the 27th annual Military Women’s Memorial Veterans Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery; the Secretary travels to the homelands of the Winnebago and Omaha Tribal Nations in Nebraska to take part in a bison transfer; a new report documents the tremendous economic impact of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, as it advances the Department's key initiatives;  the Bureau of Land Management updates its Central Yukon Resource Management Plan for nearly 13.3 million acres of public lands in central and northern Alaska; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Martha Williams visits South Africa as part of the worldwide effort to combat wildlife trafficking; and a river runs through our social media Picture of the Week!

  • Video
    04/11/2025

    This Week at Interior April 11, 2025

    Video

    Transcript:

    (MUSIC BEGINS)


    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!


    (MUSIC ENDS)

     

    News and headlines from Interior April 11, 2025

    Read more