This Week at Interior February 11, 2022

Transcript:

This Week at Interior  

As part of President Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Interior this week announced nearly $725 million in fiscal year 22 funding to reclaim abandoned mine lands across 22 states and the Navajo Nation. The funding won't just eliminate dangerous environmental conditions and pollution caused by past coal mining...it will create thousands of good-paying union jobs and foster economic opportunity.  

Deputy Secretary Tommy Beaudreau traveled to Provo, Utah, this week where he highlighted the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law investments in water infrastructure and ecosystem restoration. He also toured the Provo Delta Restoration Project and construction of Utah Lake System water delivery pipelines. Interior recently announced $50 million for the Central Utah Project Completion Act to accelerate construction of delivery systems to provide clean, reliable drinking water to over 100,000 Utah residents, and complete the Provo River Delta Restoration Project, providing habitat restoration for threatened fish species and improving recreational access to the area’s natural environment. 

Interior and the Department of Agriculture this week joined the Western Governors Association to launch a Task Force on Collaborative Conservation. The task force will enhance collaboration and coordination across jurisdictions, focusing on managing resources to improve environmental outcomes for communities across the West. 

Interior this week wrapped up a series of engagement sessions focused on addressing the drought crisis in the Klamath Basin. The session brought together Tribal leaders, members of Congress, state and federal officials including California Governor Gavin Newsom and Oregon Governor Kate Brown, and local stakeholders. Secretary Haaland highlighted the $162 million dedicated to helping address severe drought conditions in the Klamath Basin provided by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law...she also underscored the Department’s commitment to minimize drought impacts and develop a long-term plan to facilitate conservation and economic growth.  

The nation’s wildlife and wild places will benefit like never before thanks to a record-breaking $1.5 billion in excise taxes paid last year by manufacturers of hunting and fishing equipment. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service this week announced those funds will be disbursed through the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program. That program provides critical funding to support state and local outdoor recreational opportunities, and wildlife and habitat conservation. The core value of the program is fostering cooperative partnerships between federal and state agencies, working alongside hunters, anglers, and other outdoor interests, to enhance recreational opportunities while advancing sustainable resource goals. It’s a vision that is core to President Biden’s America the Beautiful initiative. 

As part of the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to stop the spread of COVID-19, the Bureau of Indian Education will distribute 600,000 surgical masks for K-12 students at all 183 BIE-funded schools. BIE will also distribute an additional 600,000 N95 respirators to K-12 schools for staff and adults in students' households, as well as to Haskell Indian Nations University and Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute for students and staff.  

A new blog post from Interior this week details the Department's ambitious agenda to center equity and inclusion in all of our work. That comes as part of the Biden-Harris administration effort to create an all-of-government approach to advance environmental justice. Check it out at doi.gov. 

Happy Birthday, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service...it was this week in 1940 that Interior consolidated the Bureau of Fisheries and the Bureau of Biological Survey into one agency, calling it the Fish and Wildlife Service. With roots tracing back as far as 1871, the Service’s programs are some of the oldest efforts dedicated to natural resource conservation.  

And our social media Picture of the Week, the world-famous "fire fall" at Yosemite National Park in California. That's not fire or lava flowing over Horsetail Falls, just water catching the sunset at exactly the right time and the right angle. If weather conditions are favorable, this year's fire fall should happen later this month. 

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

That's This Week, at Interior 
 

This Week: This Week: Interior announces nearly $725 million in fiscal year 2022 funding to reclaim abandoned mine lands; Deputy Secretary Beaudreau highlights the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s investments in Utah’s water infrastructure and ecosystem restoration; Interior and the Department of Agriculture join the Western Governors Association to launch a Task Force on Collaborative Conservation; we’ll tell you about engagement sessions focused on addressing the drought crisis in the Klamath Basin; $1.5 billion is on the way to benefit outdoor conservation and recreation programs coast to coast; more than a million masks to help stem the spread of COVID-19 are  going out to Bureau of Indian Education students, staff and families; the latest blog post from Interior details our ambitious agenda to center equity and inclusion in everything we do; the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service turns 82; and the world famous “fire fall” at Yosemite National Park is 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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