This Week at Interior December 1, 2023

Transcript:

Hi, I'm Chip Jenkins, Superintendent at Grand Teton National Park...AND...you're watching This Week at Interior!  

This Week at Interior  

The Department announced the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s approval of the Empire Wind project, the sixth commercial-scale offshore wind energy project approved since 2021. Once complete, the project offshore New York and New Jersey would have the capacity to power more than 700,000 homes. The announcement supports the administration’s goal of deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy capacity by 2030.    

Interior this week outlined how more than $468 million in fiscal year 2023 funding from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda is reducing wildfire risk, mitigating impacts and rehabilitating burned areas across the country. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is bringing much-needed support to communities across the country to increase the resilience of lands facing the threat of wildland fires and to better support federal wildland firefighters.  

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service this week announced its final rule to list the North American wolverine in the contiguous U.S. as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. Wolverines are a medium-sized carnivore found within the Northern Rocky Mountains and North Cascade Mountains in the contiguous U.S., along with parts of Alaska and Canada and their populations have been severely impacted by the effects of climate change. The listing comes as the Endangered Species Act marks 50 years since its passage in 1973.  

President Biden this week announced new actions to strengthen America’s supply chains, lower costs for families, and secure key sectors. As part of this effort, the U.S. Geological Survey is investing millions of dollars to strengthen domestic supply chains for critical minerals. USGS' flagship effort – the Earth Resource Mapping Initiative, known as Earth MRI -- has distributed more than $51 million across 35 states and Puerto Rico to fund geoscience data collection and mapping for critical minerals, supported by funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.  

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service chaired the 77th Standing Committee meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES. That meeting concluded recently in Geneva, Switzerland. CITES was signed in 1975 and became the only treaty to ensure that international trade in plants and animals does not threaten their survival in the wild.  

'Tis the season on the Ellipse at President's Park in Washington D.C., where President Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden threw the switch this week to light up the National Christmas Tree. Secretary Haaland and National Park Service Director Chuck Sams delivered remarks to the gathered audience as well. It's a ceremony that goes back 101 years to Calvin Coolidge, and if you weren't one of the lucky few to watch it live in person, fear not: the tree will be illuminated in front of the White House throughout the holiday season, and the lighting ceremony will be broadcast on December 15th.  

And our social media Picture of the Week, the exquisite natural beauty of Kentucky's Cumberland Gap National Historical Park. It's a magical place marked by the passage of time, ancient geological forces, the migration of wildlife and the comings and goings of diverse people.  

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

This Week: Interior approves the Biden-Harris Administration's sixth commercial-scale offshore wind project; nearly half a billion dollars is funding wildfire resilience efforts coast to coast, thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law; a cold weather carnivore is getting protection under the Endangered Species Act; the U.S. Geological Survey is beefing up the supply chain for critical minerals; the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) meets in Geneva, Switzerland; the First Family participates in the annual lighting of the National Christmas Tree; and the natural beauty of the Kentucky wilderness shines through 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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