This Week at Interior August 2, 2024

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This Week at Interior

Secretary Haaland this week announced major milestones for the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative, which she launched in June 2021 as the first-ever comprehensive effort by the federal government to recognize the troubled legacy of past federal Indian boarding school policies. The Department released the second and final volume of the investigative report led by Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland: the report expands on what was previously known about the number and details of these institutions, including attendee deaths and the number of burial sites, participation of religious institutions and organizations, and federal dollars spent to operate these locations.

One of the reasons I launched the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative was to ensure that this important story was told. That all of America knows of the intergenerational impact of these policies and that we as a nation take steps to heal from them.

Secretary Haaland this week applauded the selection of the National Park Service's Historic Moravian Bethlehem District in Pennsylvania to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s World Heritage List. That list highlights cultural and natural heritage sites around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity. It's the first transnational World Heritage listing in the U.S. -- the designation also includes sites in Germany and Northern Ireland.

Assistant Secretary for Insular and International Affairs Carmen Cantor wrapped up her trip to Southeast Asia this week with a visit to Indonesia, where she reaffirmed Interior’s conservation partnerships across the region. The visit underscored the Department’s long-term commitment to Southeast Asia through the International Technical Assistance Program, as well as investments in wildlife conservation and protected areas, and partnerships with regional organizations.

Interior this week announced a $20 million investment through President Biden’s Investing in America agenda to bolster climate resilience in Hawaiʻi. Funding will be awarded to 17 Native Hawaiian Organizations to restore native ecosystems and plants and enhance food security, while incorporating Indigenous Knowledge and practices. Island ecosystems like those found in Hawaiʻi are incredibly biodiverse, and more susceptible to climate-related impacts, such as wildfires and warmer and more acidic oceans.

Orphaned oil and gas wells are polluting backyards, recreation areas, and community spaces across the country. Interior this week announced $52 million from the President’s Investing in America agenda for Colorado, Illinois and West Virginia to clean up that legacy pollution. Those investments won’t just address cleaning up hazardous sites -- they'll also help create good-paying union jobs, catalyze economic growth and help protect public health and the environment from harmful methane leaks.

Happy 47th birthday to the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement. OSMRE was created on August 3rd, 1977, with the signing of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act, to administer programs for controlling the impacts of surface coal mining operations, assisting states and Tribes with abandoned mine land reclamation, restoring natural spaces and creating a better future for all Americans.

We're also celebrating the fourth anniversary of the Great American Outdoors Act this week. That law, which passed with strong bipartisan support, makes unprecedented investments in national parks, public lands and Bureau of Indian Education-funded schools. To celebrate, entrance fees will be waived this Sunday August 4th, at all fee-collecting public lands managed by the Department.  

And our social media Picture of the Week, Arrowleaf balsamroot blooms in the summer sun at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. Located in the high elevation of the Centennial Valley, in the southwestern region of Montana, the refuge is renowned for its natural beauty, and is considered one of the most diverse landscapes within the national wildlife refuge system.  

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That's This Week at Interior! 

This Week: Secretary Haaland announces major milestones for the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative; the Historic Moravian Bethlehem District in Pennsylvania is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site; Assistant Secretary for Insular and International Affairs Carmen Cantor wraps up her trip to Southeast Asia; Interior announces $52 million for orphaned oil and gas well clean up in Colorado, Illinois and West Virginia; the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement celebrates its 47th birthday; it's the fourth anniversary of the Great American Outdoors Act this Sunday, and that means a fee free day on public lands; and you can meet us in Montana for 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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