This Week at Interior April 26, 2024

I'm Kevin Sligh, Director of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. And you're watching This Week at Interior!

This Week at Interior  

Secretary Haaland, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Director Elizabeth Klein and Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement Director Kevin Sligh traveled to New Orleans this week for the International Partnering Forum, the largest offshore wind energy conference in the Americas. The Secretary announced a new, proposed five-year offshore wind leasing schedule, which includes up to 12 potential offshore wind energy lease sales through 2028, in the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, Pacific, and the waters offshore of the U.S. territories.  

Secretary Haaland also announced finalized regulations for offshore renewable energy development to reduce costs, streamline processes and clarify provisions while enhancing compliance requirements. 
Since the start of the Biden-Harris administration the Department has approved more than 10 gigawatts of clean energy from offshore wind projects — enough to power nearly 4 million homes.

But wait, there’s more! Secretary Haaland and Bureau of Land Management Director Tracy Stone-Manning also visited Arizona this week to highlight the Biden-Harris administration’s all-of-government approach to developing a robust and sustainable clean energy economy. They joined local leaders to celebrate clean energy going into the grid from the newly completed Ten West Link transmission line. The 500-kilovolt high voltage transmission line will add significant new power grid infrastructure connecting Southern California with the rapidly growing Desert Southwest region. Interior has now permitted more than 25 gigawatts of clean energy projects – enough clean energy to power more than 12 million homes.  

The Bureau of Reclamation and Indian Health Service this week announced a new Memorandum of Understanding to further develop safe drinking water and community sanitation infrastructure projects across Indian Country. Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Water and Science Michael Brain and Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton celebrated the announcement at the White House’s first-ever Clean Water Summit. Through the new agreement the agencies will collaborate to complete studies, planning and design to be used in constructing domestic water infrastructure projects.

Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland visited New Mexico this week, to highlight the funding Interior has invested through President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda to support the restoration of bison populations and grassland ecosystems in Tribal communities. He joined leaders from the Taos Pueblo for the release of 10 bison from Yellowstone National Park into the Pueblo's existing herd. Interior currently manages 11,000 bison in herds across 4.6 million acres of public lands in 12 states.

Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management Dr. Steve Feldgus traveled to Morgantown, West Virginia this week to announce more than $140 million from the President's Investing in America agenda to address dangerous and polluting abandoned mine lands, create good-paying, family-sustaining jobs, and catalyze economic opportunity in West Virginia coal communities. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law allocates $11.3 billion in funding to support this type of work nationwide over 15 years, facilitated by the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement.

Interior this week announced more than $70 million from the President’s Investing in America agenda for 43 projects in 29 states that will improve fish passage around outdated or obsolete dams, culverts, levees and other barriers fragmenting the nation’s rivers and streams. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Martha Williams made that announcement during a tour of Alabama fish passage projects funded by the Bipartisan Infrastricture Law, which delivers a five-year $200 million commitment for the Service to restore free-flowing waters, allowing for fish migration and protecting communities from flooding.

In celebration of National Park Week, National Park Service Director Chuck Sams visited a number of parks, historic sites, monuments, and recreation areas. At San Antonio Missions National Historical Park in Texas the Director joined community partners to announce that Mission San José -- along with 18 other sites in 10 states -- is being added to the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. The network recognizes places and programs with verifiable connections to the Underground Railroad and the resistance to enslavement through escape and flight.

And our social media Picture of the Week...misty sunshine streams through the trees of the maritime forest at Cumberland Island, Georgia. Home to Cumberland Island National Seashore, it's the largest and southernmost barrier island in Georgia, and features nearly 10,000 acres of Congressionally designated wilderness.  

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

That's This Week at Interior!