This Week at Interior September 13, 2024

Transcript:

I'm Jeff Conn at Saguaro National Park in Tucson, Arizona, and you're watching This Week at Interior!

This Week, at Interior  

Acting Deputy Secretary Laura Daniel-Davis and White House National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi were in Las Vegas this week to announce progress on multiple clean energy projects in Nevada that will create good-paying jobs, lower families’ energy costs, and help the Biden-Harris administration's renewable energy goals. Among the announcements, the Bureau of Land Management is finalizing two projects that will unlock up to 4.7 gigawatts of clean energy, enough to power nearly 5 million homes.

In Tucson, Arizona the Acting Deputy Secretary announced $236 million from the President’s Investing in America Agenda to support wildland fire management across the nation. The funding will help reduce risk from wildfires, support improved wildland firefighter training, expand efforts to rehabilitate burned areas in collaboration with partners, and advance wildfire science. Interior has invested an overall $1 billion from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for wildland fire management to date.  

The Migratory Bird Conservation Commission this week announced the approval of more than $46.2 million in grants, which will conserve or restore more than 90,000 acres of wetland and associated upland habitats for waterfowl, shorebirds and other birds in 17 states. Those grants will be matched by more than $99.1 million in partner funds. The Commission also approved nearly $12 million for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and its partners to conserve habitat on seven national wildlife refuges across seven states.  

The Department and Bureau of Reclamation this week announced up to $43.5 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for small water storage projects that will create new sources of water for communities in the West. Surface water and groundwater storage are essential tools in stretching the limited water supplies worsened by a changing climate, and these projects will increase water management flexibility, making water supply more reliable and communities more resilient.  

The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement this week announced nearly $9.7 million for Wyoming to address dangerous and polluting abandoned mine lands, while creating good-paying, family-sustaining jobs, and catalyzing economic opportunity. The announcement builds on nearly $19.4 million allocated to Wyoming for abandoned mine reclamation since the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law was signed.  

The Office of Native Hawaiian Relations this week announced $1 million in grants for six Native Hawaiian Organizations to implement the Native American Tourism and Improving Visitor Experience, or NATIVE Act. Funding enables Indigenous communities to participate in national tourism goals and strategies while seeking to enhance and integrate native tourism, empower native communities, and expand unique cultural tourism opportunities.  

The National Park Service this week announced more than $12 million in Paul Bruhn Historic Revitalization Grants to 17 programs in 15 states. The grants support economic development through the preservation of historic buildings in rural communities across the country.

And the nation paused this week to honor and remember the victims of the September 11th attacks 23 years ago. President Biden and Vice President Harris marked the occasion with wreath-layings at Ground Zero in New York City, at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and at the National Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where they were joined by Secretary Haaland and National Park Service Director Chuck Sams. Two thousand, nine-hundred and seventy-seven lives were lost in the 9/11 terror attacks.

And our social media Picture of the Week...the waning days of summer going out in a blaze of glory at Colorado's Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve. This field of wildflowers blooming almost as far as the eye can see under the tallest dunes in North America.

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

That's This Week at Interior!  

 

This Week: Biden-Harris administration leaders announce progress on multiple clean energy projects in Nevada; Acting Deputy Secretary Laura Daniel-Davis announces $236 million from the President’s Investing in America agenda to support wildland fire management across the nation; the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission approves more than $46.2 million in grants for more than 90,000 acres of wetlands and associated upland habitats; Interior announces up to $43.5 million for small water storage projects that will create new sources of water for communities in the West; $9.7 million is on the way to Wyoming to address dangerous and polluting abandoned mine lands; new grants for six Native Hawaiian Organizations will bolster tourism and visitor experiences; $12 million in revitalization grants will support economic development through the preservation of historic buildings in rural communities across the country; the nation pauses to honor and remember the victims of the September 11th attacks; and summer's going out in a blaze of glory 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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