This Week at Interior January 13, 2023

Transcript:

This Week at Interior 

Interior this week marked National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day, a day to honor the more than 900,000 law enforcement officers who risk their lives to defend our country. Interior employs 35-hundred officers across seven bureaus who are critical to protecting public safety and advancing the Department’s mission. 

Secretary Haaland this week established an Orphaned Wells Program Office. Orphaned oil and gas wells pollute backyards, recreation areas, and community spaces across the country. The new office will ensure effective, accountable and efficient implementation of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s historic $4.7 billion investment in orphaned well clean up. 

The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement this week announced nearly 10 million dollars to reclaim abandoned mine lands in Colorado. Millions of Americans nationwide live within just one mile of an abandoned coal mine. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law has allocated more than $11 billion to address pollution they leave behind. 

Interior this week announced a new clean energy modernization rule. The proposed rule would help the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management facilitate the efficient development of offshore wind energy resources to meet U.S. climate and renewable energy objectives. The proposed reforms are estimated to save developers approximately $1 billion over a 20 year period. 

And the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has new leadership on the way this week. Liz Klein has been named BOEM Director, succeeding Amanda Lefton who served as the first BOEM director in the Biden-Harris administration. 

The Bureau of Land Management this week announced that the Blythe Mesa Solar Project in Riverside, California is now fully operational. The project is expected to produce enough solar energy to power 94,000 homes and helps meet Interior's commitment to accelerate responsible development of renewable energy on public lands. 

The Bureau of Reclamation this week announced a $7 million investment from the Infrastructure Law in 82 small-scale water efficiency projects across the West. These grants will support local community projects, including measuring water flow, automating water delivery, or lining canals. 

This Monday marks Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the only federal holiday designated by Congress as a "day of service." Interior employees are honoring the holiday with in-kind contributions to food banks and pantries through the Feds Feed Families initiative. It's also the first "fee free" day of the year on Interior-managed public lands. Admittance fees are waived Monday at all national parks and national wildlife refuges, as well as lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management, and the Bureau of Reclamation. 

And our social media Picture of Week, this fiery image of the Kīlauea volcano at Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park. The most active of the five volcanoes that together form Hawai’i island, Kīlauea's latest eruption started January 5th and continued this week. Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey continue to monitor the situation. 

Make sure you follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. That's This Week at Interior. 

This Week: Interior marks National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day; Secretary Haaland establishes an Orphaned Wells Program Office; OSMRE announces $10 million to reclaim abandoned mine lands in Colorado; BOEM has a new Director, and a new proposed rule to advance development of offshore energy resources; the power is on at the Blythe Mesa Solar Project in Riverside, California; Reclamation announces a $7 million investment for water efficiency projects across the West; Interior honors the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service with a food drive and free admittance to public lands; and Hawai'i's Kīlauea volcano makes for a fiery 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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