This Week at Interior March 21, 2025

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This Week at Interior

Secretary Burgum this week is taking immediate steps to unleash Alaska’s untapped natural resource potential and support President Trump’s vision of American Energy Dominance. The Bureau of Land Management will move forward with efforts to increase exploration and development in both the National Petroleum Reserve and the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The BLM will also work towards partial revocation of public land withdrawals that will help solidify the path forward for the proposed Ambler Road and Alaska Liquified Natural Gas Pipeline projects.

In this initial suite of actions, the Interior and BLM will pursue:

Reopening up to 82% of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska available to leasing and expanding energy development opportunities in the approximately 23-million-acre reserve. 

Reinstating a program that makes the entire 1.56-million-acre Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge available for oil and gas leasing. 

And revoking withdrawals along the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Corridor and Dalton Highway north of the Yukon River in order to convey these lands to State of Alaska. This action would help pave the way forward for the proposed Ambler Road and the Alaska Liquified Natural Gas Pipeline project, two projects that stand to increase job opportunities and encourage Alaska’s economic growth. 

Through these actions and more to come, Interior is set to deliver on the President’s promise to unlock Alaska’s abundant supply of natural resources for the benefit of Alaskans and the nation, providing economic and national security for many generations to come.

To revive offshore energy development efforts, President Trump this week signed a joint resolution disapproving the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s rule titled "Protection of Marine Archaeological Resources." The rule, published last year under the previous administration, mandated that all new oil and gas leaseholders on the Outer Continental Shelf submit archaeological reports in previously unsurveyed areas where operations proposed seafloor disturbing activities. Secretary Burgum applauded the move, saying that offshore energy development is a vital component of our national security and a critical driver of American prosperity.  

Interior this week announced permanent pay increases for federal and Tribal wildland firefighters across the United States after President Trump signed the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act into law. As wildfires grow larger and more destructive — threatening communities, livelihoods, and infrastructure — wildland fire personnel face growing demands. Improving firefighter pay will help address this challenge by enabling the Department and Tribes to hire and retain top employees in this critical field.

Secretary Burgum and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner this week announced a new Joint Task Force to increase the supply of housing and decrease home ownership costs for millions of Americans. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed the Secretaries said Interior and HUD will identify locations that can support homes while pinpointing where housing needs are most pressing.

HUD will work with DOI to assess the housing needs in areas where federal lands may be available yet underutilized and implement tailored housing programs with guidance from states and localities. This partnership will identify underutilized federal lands suitable for residential development and streamline the land transfer process. It'll also promote policies that increase the availability of affordable housing while balancing important environmental and land use considerations.  

Interior this week announced the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has completed the transfer of 680 acres of land to the Bureau of Indian Affairs to be held in trust for the Spirit Lake Nation in Benson County, North Dakota. The transfer marks the culmination of a many decades' long effort by the Spirit Lake Nation and reflects the administration’s commitment to strengthening tribal sovereignty, promoting economic opportunities, and enhancing the quality of life for Indigenous people.

The Bureau of Land Management this week conducted a competitive online sale through the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act. Eight parcels totaling nearly 42 acres in the Las Vegas Valley were sold, generating more than 16 and half million dollars. Eighty-five percent of those funds will go to projects throughout Nevada, such as the development of parks, trails, and natural areas, hazardous fuels reduction, landscape restoration projects and more.

And our social media Picture of the Week, here’s to warmer temperatures, new life and dramatic splashes of every imaginable color, as spring finally arrives in the Northern Hemisphere. Here at Redwood National and State Parks in California, it won't be long before the fields and hills are covered with the park's iconic blooms of lupine, as far as the eye can see.  

Make sure you follow us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and X!

That's This Week at Interior

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This Week: Secretary Burgum is taking immediate steps to unleash Alaska’s untapped natural resource potential and support President Trump’s vision of American Energy Dominance; Secretary Burgum applauds President Trump's signing of a joint resolution that clears the way for more offshore energy development; Interior announces permanent pay increases for federal and Tribal wildland firefighters across the United States; Secretary Burgum and HUD Secretary Scott Turner announce a new Joint Task Force to increase the supply of housing and decrease home ownership costs for millions of Americans; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service completes the transfer of 680 acres of land to the Bureau of Indian Affairs to be held in trust for the Spirit Lake Nation of North Dakota; the Bureau of Land Management conducts a competitive online public land sale through the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act; the arrival of spring brings an explosion of color in our social media Picture of the Week!

  • Video
    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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