This Week at Interior October 29, 2021

Transcript:

This Week, at Interior 

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management this week is asking for public input on three major clean energy projects: an environmental review of Mayflower Wind’s proposal for a wind energy project offshore Massachusetts...a proposed lease sale for wind energy development in the Carolina Long Bay area...and the ongoing efforts to assess commercial interest in wind energy leasing in the Gulf of Mexico. The Biden-Harris administration is committed to achieving 30 gigawatts of clean offshore wind energy by 2030, creating nearly 80,000 good-paying union jobs while also fighting climate change.   

Imperiled wildlife across the nation will benefit from nearly seven and a half million dollars in grants from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Competitive State Wildlife Grant program. The program supports projects led by state, territory and commonwealth fish and wildlife agencies, protecting vulnerable wildlife and their habitats. The funds will be used to implement a total of 21 conservation projects. 

Tracy Stone-Manning was ceremonially sworn-in by Secretary Haaland this week as the new Director of the Bureau of Land Management. In celebrating her arrival, Secretary Haaland said “Tracy brings a wealth of knowledge in conservation and environmental policy to [our] efforts and a history of working with diverse communities in service to our public lands.” 

America's first stewards could be among its next...Interior this week announced next steps in a plan for implementation of the Indian Youth Service Corps Program. The IYSC would provide meaningful education, employment, and training opportunities to Indigenous youth through conservation projects on public lands, Indian lands, and Hawaiian homelands – putting young people on the path to good paying jobs working to tackle the climate crisis. 

U.S. Geological Survey crews were on the job this week after a so-called "Atmospheric River event" brought significant precipitation to the western United States. The California Water Science Center dispatched crews to measure high flows in Lake, Mendocino, and Sonoma Counties. In Nevada crews were deployed from the Carson City Field Office to the Lake Tahoe area. 

The Bureau of Reclamation joined local, state and federal partners along with the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation in a virtual celebration this week, marking the completion of the Schaake Habitat Improvement Project in the Yakima Basin. The project restored natural processes and opened about 130 acres of floodplain along a two-mile reach of the Yakima River south of Ellensburg, Washington. 

The Fish and Wildlife Service and the USGS joined state partners this week to remove invasive carp from the Mississippi River near La Crosse, Wisconsin. The removal effort, led by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, featured an innovative method developed by USGS which uses herding and netting techniques to drive the fish from larger to smaller areas to be captured. 

It's Bat Week 2021, our annual celebration of the role of bats in nature and all that these amazing creatures do for us. Just like birds and butterflies, bats are great pollinators, but where they really excel is pest control...our unsung heroes of the night can eat their body weight or more in insects, thus protecting our crops.   

And our social media Picture of the Week, a misty mountain trail at Virginia's Shenandoah National Park. October is a busy time of year here, with people from across the country flocking to marvel at autumn beauty that borders on the magical. Stretching for a hundred miles along the Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah is filled with trails and overlooks where anyone can settle down and find a peaceful moment, to take it all in. 

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

That’s This Week, at Interior.

This Week: The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management asks for public input on three offshore clean energy projects; imperiled wildlife across the nation will benefit from nearly $7.5 million in grants from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service; Tracy Stone-Manning is sworn-in as the new Director of the Bureau of Land Management; America's first stewards could be among its next...we'll tell you about plans for the Indian Youth Service Corps Program; U.S. Geological Survey crews were on the job after an "Atmospheric River" event brought significant precipitation to the western United States; the Bureau of Reclamation celebrates the completion of the Schaake Habitat Improvement Project in the Yakima Basin; Interior agencies drop a net on invasive carp in the Mississippi River; we salute the tiny creatures that fly by night during Bat Week 2021; and a misty mountain trail leads the way to 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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