This Week at Interior May 10, 2024

Transcript:

This Week at Interior

Secretary Haaland and Department leaders joined Biden-Harris administration officials, prominent historians, museum leaders, conservation leaders and others this week to honor the legacy and contributions of women and girls to our history. The event highlighted President Biden’s recent Executive Order to strengthen the National Park Service’s recognition of women’s history to help honor the legacy and contributions of women and girls to our country. The Secretary announced a new women’s history virtual exhibition from the Service called “Home and Homelands,” which explores how women have made, claimed and fought for their homes and shaped American history throughout the Pacific West.  

Secretary Haaland traveled to New Mexico this week to announce a $60 million investment from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda for water conservation and drought resilience in the Rio Grande Basin, as part of the Biden-Harris administration’s all-of-government approach to building drought resilience in the West. Stretching over 1,200 miles, the Rio Grande provides water for agriculture and nearby communities, supports eight Tribal Nations, habitat for migrating birds and other species, and a robust outdoor recreation industry.  

Interior this week announced $147 million investment from the President’s Investing in America agenda to help western communities in ten states prepare and respond to challenges due to drought and other water scarcity concerns. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton made the announcement during a visit with the Southern Ute Tribe in southwestern Colorado. The Tribe is being awarded a $2.3 million grant to upgrade their water system to provide reliable water levels during various water flow periods.

Interior this week announced that more than $87 million in funding has been approved by the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission. That will provide the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and its partners the ability to help conserve or restore more than 300,000 acres of wetland and associated upland habitats for waterfowl, shorebirds and other birds across North America. The Commission also approved more than $2.7 million from the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund to help conserve habitat on two national wildlife refuges across two states.  

With the addition last month of the Tule River Indian Tribe in California, the National Park Service has now signed ten new Tribal Historic Preservation agreements in five states over the last year. The program assists Native American Tribes in strengthening their historic preservation efforts, transferring certain preservation responsibilities to Tribes that would otherwise be the responsibility of the state.  

Assistant Secretary for Insular and International Affairs Carmen Cantor this week announced nearly two and a half million dollars in Technical Assistance Program funding for the U.S. Virgin Islands through Interior's Office of Insular Affairs. The funds will be used to purchase needed medical equipment, to train youth for employment, and to train utility employees in energy grid management and integration across power sources.  

It's the largest ongoing freshwater fishery restoration effort in the world, and it's underway once again on the Great Lakes. Through the end of May, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, along with Tribal and state partners, is performing its annual restocking effort, transporting nearly three million lake trout to Lake Michigan and Lake Huron after rearing them in fish hatcheries. Once devastated by overharvest and invasive species, lake trout are now restored in Lake Superior and are showing much more successful reproduction in the other Great Lakes since efforts began in the 1990s.

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Water and Science Annalise Blum joined U.S. Geological Survey Director David Applegate in celebrating Amphibian Week on the National Mall this week, along with personnel from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, the Departments of Defense and Agriculture, the U.S. Forest Service and the Smithsonian Institution. The event highlighted the importance of amphibians and showcased how Interior's agencies are helping to understand and conserve these fascinating animals.  

Secretary Haaland, Acting Deputy Secretary Laura Daniel-Davis and Department leaders this week saluted the recipients of the 2024 Interior Honor Awards Convocation, the most prestigious recognition that can be granted by the Department for career accomplishments, exceptional support of the Department’s mission, or for heroism.

I hope each of you leave here today with a renewed sense of purpose and accomplishment. This team is beyond a doubt essential, and I am so grateful to be in this historic work alongside of you. All of you inspire me to do the best job I can as Secretary, and you are shining examples of what it means to serve our country.

For a complete list of this year’s winners, check out doi.gov/convocation77.  

And our social media Picture of the Week...this breathtaking image of Lemhi Pass on the Idaho/Montana border, as we mark National Wildflower Week. Here in the steps of Lewis and Clark, it's the perfect time to pause and marvel at a spectacular vista, made even more stunning by the glorious hues of yellow and violet under the big bright blue sky.

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

That's This Week at Interior! 
 

This Week: Secretary Haaland and Department leaders take part in a White House celebration honoring the legacy and contributions of women and girls to our history; the Secretary travels to New Mexico to announce a $60 million investment for water conservation and drought resilience in the Rio Grande Basin; Interior announces $147 million to help western communities in ten states prepare for and respond to drought and water scarcity challenges; $87 million in funding is on the way for the conservation and restoration of more than 300,000 acres of wetlands and upland habitats; the Tule River Indian Tribe in California joins the list of tribes signing on to the National Park Service's Tribal Historic Preservation program; two and half million dollars is approved for the U.S Virgin Islands under the Office of Insular and International Affairs' Technical Assistance Program; the largest ongoing freshwater fishery restoration effort in the world is underway once again on the Great Lakes; it's a celebration of all things amphibian on the National Mall; Interior leaders salute the recipients of the 2024 Interior Honor Awards; and the sheer beauty of wildflowers brightens up 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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