This Week at Interior May 19, 2023

Transcript:

This Week at Interior 

This week is National Police Week, when we pause to remember those law enforcement officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty. At the Udall Building in Washington, D.C., Secretary Haaland saluted Interior's thirty-six hundred officers for their heroic efforts keeping communities safe and supporting the Department's mission to protect public lands, waters, and Tribal communities. 

These roles are critical to upholding the Department's responsibilities to the American public and each officer is vital to this mission. We simply could not do our work without all of you.

Interior this week convened the Secretary’s Tribal Advisory Committee, or STAC, marking the first time the group has met in-person -- previous STAC sessions were held online. The STAC was announced as part of the 2021 White House Tribal Nations Summit and launched in June 2022. It provides the opportunity for appointed Tribal leaders to have direct contact and communication with high-level Interior officials on Department policies, programs and funding that impact Tribal Nations. 

It’s Infrastructure Week! First Lady Dr. Jill Biden and Secretary Haaland traveled to Alaska this week to highlight the administration's historic investments to expand broadband connectivity in Native American communities, including Alaska Native communities in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region. Those investments are made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and are part of the President's Investing in America agenda. 

Continuing a focus on infrastructure investments, Infrastructure Coordinator Winnie Stachelberg traveled to Michigan to tour orphan well cleanup sites. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provides $4.7 billion for orphaned well clean up and restoration. And the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement joined the Iowa Department of Agriculture to announce the start of cleanup efforts at the Kuiper Abandoned Mine Land site. The majority of the funding comes from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which is providing nearly $6 million for abandoned mine land reclamation in Iowa. In total, the infrastructure law allocates more than $16 billion dollars to plug orphaned wells and reclaim abandoned mine lands to help communities across the country eliminate dangerous environmental conditions and pollution. 

This Friday May 19th marks Endangered Species Day, and Interior leaders hit the road this week to highlight the Department's work in conserving and restoring precious natural habitat for wildlife. Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks Shannon Estenoz visited Michigan to highlight endangered species and the administration’s Investing in America agenda. She toured several sites funded by the America the Beautiful Challenge for locally led river restoration and fish barrier removal work. She also joined the Great Lakes Fishery Commission for briefings and site visits throughout the Great Lakes region to discuss cooperative fishery management. 

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Director Martha Williams joined U.S. Postal Service leaders this week in South Dakota to unveil 20 new "forever" stamps to mark the 50th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act. The new stamps depict photographs of endangered animals found within the 50 states and American territories, as well as two North American species living near U.S. borders. The Department also announced over $62 million through the Investing in America agenda to advance endangered species recovery planning efforts. 

And our social media Picture of the Week, it's one of the most biologically rich areas on Earth, Point Reyes National Seashore on the California coast. The park offers sandy beaches, open grasslands and mystical cypress trees that await your exploration. 

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

That's This Week at Interior. 

This Week: Interior honors law enforcement officers who made the ultimate sacrifice at a Police Week ceremony; members of the Secretary's Tribal Advisory Committee meet in Washington, D.C.; Secretary Haaland joins the First Lady to highlight infrastructure investments in Alaskan Native communities; the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law means more funding for the fight against legacy pollution; Department leaders hit the road to mark Endangered Species Day; endangered species are the new face of the U.S. Postal Service's Forever Stamp; and mystical cypress trees await your exploration in 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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