This Week at Interior December 3, 2021

Transcript:

This Week at Interior  

Secretary Haaland was in Maryland this week, touring various sites to highlight the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s investments in infrastructure and climate resiliency initiatives. The Secretary and Representative David Trone visited the C&O Canal National Historic Park, where they took a boat tour to see the first-ever working aqueduct on the canal — one of only a few working aqueducts in the country. They also toured the Antietam National Battlefield, where the National Park Service is working to modernize the site’s infrastructure...and they held a roundtable with local stakeholders to discuss Interior's commitment to environmental justice and addressing the effects of climate change on marginalized communities. 

Interior released its report on federal oil and gas leasing and permitting practices this week. That follows a review of onshore and offshore oil and gas programs. The report identifies significant reforms that should be made to ensure the programs provide a fair return to taxpayers, discourage speculation, hold operators responsible for remediation, and more-fully include communities and Tribal, state, and local governments in decision-making. 

Interior has announced the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s approval of the construction and operations of the South Fork Wind project offshore Rhode Island, the second approval of a commercial-scale, offshore wind energy project in the United States. The project will be located approximately 19 miles southeast of Block Island, Rhode Island, and 35 miles east of Montauk Point, New York. It could generate as much as 130 megawatts, create about 340 jobs, and provide enough power for about 70,000 homes. 

Nearly a decade after Hurricane Sandy, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and its partners are building a coast that’s better able to withstand and recover from more frequent and intense storms predicted with a changing climate. The new approach uses nature as an ally, and applies science and conservation approaches designed to adapt to a changing future, rather than simply recreate conditions of the past.  

Congratulations to the latest graduating class of the Security Response Force Basic Training Program. The Bureau of Reclamation’s Grand Coulee Dam Power Office administers the basic training for employees qualified to serve as security guards. Reclamation joins the Investigator Training program as only the second Interior program to achieve accreditation status with the Federal Law Enforcement Training Accreditation Board.  

The holiday season is in full swing on the Ellipse in Washington DC this week, with the lighting of the National Menorah by Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff. He's the first Jewish spouse of a Vice President. The first National Menorah was lit by President Jimmy Carter in December of 1979.  

And our social media Picture of the Week, we're all cuddle and smooches with these baby foxes, or kits, at Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge in Delaware. The refuge is home to eagles, hawks, ducks, geese, and litters of these little guys. They may be adorable now, but it won’t be long before these little fuzzies turn into skilled hunters, so ducks and geese be warned. 

Make sure you follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and You Tube.  That’s This Week, at Interior.  
 

This Week: Secretary Haaland highlights the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s investments in infrastructure and climate resiliency while traveling in Maryland; Interior points to needed reforms in the oil and gas leasing program; the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management approves the construction and operation of the second commercial-scale, offshore wind energy project in the United States; almost ten years after Hurricane Sandy the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is actively building a better coastline to handle climate change; congratulations to the latest graduating class of the Bureau of Reclamation's Security Response Force Basic Training Program; the Second Gentleman lights the National Menorah on the Ellipse in Washington, D.C.; and you won't believe the pure cuddliness of 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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