This Week at Interior January 20, 2023

Transcript:

This Week at Interior  

Secretary Haaland joined Vice President Kamala Harris, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi and leaders from the Bureau of Land Management’s Arizona office this week to celebrate the groundbreaking of Ten West Link. That's a new 500 kilovolt high voltage transmission line that will add significant new power to the grid, connecting Southern California and Central Arizona. It's all part of the effort to lower energy costs, modernize America’s power infrastructure, and create good-paying union jobs in the West, by permitting at least 25 gigawatts of solar, wind and geothermal production on public lands by 2025. 

Interior this week transferred regulations governing offshore renewable energy activities from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. The transfer advances regulatory clarity and transparency for the offshore wind industry to ensure future clean energy development and operations continue to occur in a safe and environmentally responsible manner. 

Assistant Secretary for Water and Science Tanya Trujillo wrapped up a multi-day visit to Colorado where she toured a water treatment facility and spoke at the Four States Irrigation Council Annual Meeting, highlighting investments in drought reduction from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act. Combined, these two initiatives represent the largest investments in climate resilience in the nation’s history. 

Joshua Tree National Park announced a new agreement this week with the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians. This allows for continued cooperation and a path toward shared stewardship of park resources when it comes to establishing trails originating on Tribal land; mutual aid to support law enforcement, fire, search and rescue; and other areas of mutual interest. 

The U.S. Geological Survey is testing a new way of accessing data and samples to better understand subsurface conditions from across the entire country. The National Index of Borehole Information will allow natural-resource managers, industry and researchers looking for critical-mineral potential, studying climate conditions, or tracking groundwater quality to discover the information through a single portal. 

And our social media Picture of Week is from Fisher Towers National Recreational Trail. The Utah trail winds for 2.2 miles around the base of Fisher Towers and as it climbs it offers some of the most expansive and striking views of the Colorado River basin, including Castle Rock, Castle Valley and the Bookcliffs. 

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

 
 

This Week: Secretary Haaland takes part in a groundbreaking event for Ten West Link, a new high voltage transmission line connecting Southern California and Central Arizona; responsibilities governing offshore renewable energy activities transfer from BOEM to BSEE; Interior leaders highlight investments in drought reduction; Joshua Tree National Park announces a new agreement to share resources with the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians; USGS tests a new way to access subsurface data across the entire country; and we hit the trail in Utah to find 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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