This Week at Interior April 14, 2023

Transcript:

This Week at Interior

The Department of the Interior and Bureau of Reclamation announced potential alternatives to guide operations at Glen Canyon and Hoover dams to address the unprecedented water shortages in the Colorado River Basin. Deputy Secretary Tommy Beaudreau and Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton joined representatives from the Colorado Basin states and Tribes at Hoover Dam to outline proposed measures to protect water deliveries and hydropower production.

“Recognizing the severity of this crisis and the reality that the system is changing in profound ways, the Biden Administration has been working to bring every tool, every resource to bear as we seek to both minimize the impact of the drought and develop long term plans to facilitate water conservation and economic growth.” 

Secretary Haaland was in New Jersey to tour the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement’s National Oil Spill Response Research and Renewable Energy Test Facility. BSEE is developing new technologies and training to better plan for and respond to oil spills, as well as to advance new renewable energy science and technologies, such as marine kinetic energy. She also visited the Old Barracks Museum in Trenton, which is playing an important role in the effort to tell a more complete story of America.  

Interior joined the Department of Agriculture this week to host a three-day summit in Boise, Idaho, to spearhead the development of a joint wildland firefighter behavioral health program. The program is funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and will deliver more robust mental health services to wildland fire personnel. The new program will establish year-round prevention and mental health training, provide post-traumatic stress care, enhance capacity for critical incident stress management, and create a new system of trauma support services with an emphasis on early intervention. 

As part of the continued work by the Departments of the Interior and Justice to implement the Not Invisible Act and combat the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples, the Not Invisible Act Commission held its first public hearing this week. The first of six inperson hearings was held in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with the next hearing scheduled for later this month in Alaska. Hearings include both panel discussions and a public comment period. A national, virtual field hearing will be held later in Summer 2023. 

The Bureau of Land Management has approved construction of the 732-mile TransWest Express Project. The high-voltage transmission line will extend from south-central Wyoming through northwestern Colorado and central Utah, ending in southern Nevada. The project will carry electricity generated by the largest onshore wind generation project in North America and helps deliver clean, reliable and affordable electricity that lowers costs for consumers. 

The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement announced more than $5.7 million in fiscal year 2022 funding from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to reclaim abandoned mine lands in Utah. Millions of Americans nationwide live less than a mile from a dangerous abandoned coal mine, which can leak methane. AML reclamation projects enable economic revitalization by reclaiming hazardous land for recreational facilities and other economic redevelopment uses like advanced manufacturing, rare earth mineral extraction, and renewable energy deployment. 

The National Park Service joined the White House for its annual Easter Egg Roll. Held on the South Lawn of the White House, the event was filled with exciting activities for the whole family, including story time, games, live entertainment, and the traditional Easter Egg Roll. The Easter Egg roll began unofficially in the 1870s, when children would roll eggs—and themselves —down Capitol Hill on Easter Monday but it took a toll on the grounds. Two years after Congress forbid the activity, President Rutherford B. Hayes issued an order that children would be allowed to roll Easter Eggs on the White House lawn instead. 

And our social media Picture of the Week honors National Pet Day! Tator Tot visited Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area in Tennessee where Tator Tot’s parents remembered to B.A.R.K. That is, to Bag your pet’s waste, Always leash your pet, Respect wildlife and Know where you can go with a pet ahead of time. Your pet can be a B.A.R.K. Ranger, too, while visiting your public lands. 

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

That's This Week, at Interior. 

This week: Interior announced alternatives to protect the Colorado River Basin; Secretary Haaland travels to New Jersey to  tour an Oil Spill Response Research and Renewable Energy Test Facility; the Departments of the Interior and Agriculture spearhead a joint wildland firefighter behavioral health program; the Not Invisible Act Commission held its first public hearing in Tulsa; the Bureau of Land Management approved a transmission line to carry renewable energy across the west; the state of Utah received $5.7 million in abandoned mine land clean up funding; the National Park Service joined the White House for its annual Easter Egg Roll; and we celebrate National Pet Week in our 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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