Interior Department Welcomes President Biden’s American Jobs Plan

Proposed plan would create millions of good-paying jobs while addressing the climate crisis and investing in a clean energy future 

04/01/2021
Last edited 04/01/2021

Date: Thursday, April 1, 2021 
Contact: Interior_Press@ios.doi.gov

WASHINGTON – The Department of the Interior today applauded President Biden’s proposed American Jobs Plan, a bold proposal that will bolster the nation’s infrastructure and create millions of good-paying jobs. The plan contains several provisions that would fund Interior initiatives seeking to address the climate crisis, advance environmental justice, honor our nation-to-nation relationship with Tribes, and invest in a clean energy future. 

“The American Jobs Plan represents an historic investment in the American people, and in particular Tribal and rural communities. From plugging orphan oil and gas wells and cleaning up abandoned mines to creating a new Civilian Climate corps, Interior stands ready to support this sweeping effort to create millions of good-paying jobs, rebuild our country’s infrastructure, and address our pressing climate challenges,” said Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.  

The American Jobs Plan calls for investing $16 billion to put hundreds of thousands to work in union jobs plugging oil and gas wells and restoring and reclaiming abandoned coal, hardrock, and uranium mines. In addition to creating good jobs in hard-hit communities, this investment will reduce the methane and brine that leaks from these wells, just as we invest in reducing leaks from other sources like aging pipes and distribution systems. 

Fulfilling the President’s commitment to addressing the nation’s climate crisis, the plan also calls for establishing a Civilian Climate Corps, a $10 billion effort to put a new generation of Americans to work conserving and restoring public lands and waters, increasing reforestation, increasing carbon sequestration in the agricultural sector, protecting biodiversity, improving access to recreation, and addressing the changing climate. 

The American Jobs Plan will also support our nation’s rural and Tribal communities by targeting funding as part of broader investments to expand broadband coverage and improve roads, bridges, and water systems, and a $5 billion Rural Partnership Program for economic development in rural regions, including Tribal Nations.

This plan comes after the passage of the American Rescue Plan, which contains several provisions that fund Interior initiatives and benefit the communities we directly serve, including Tribal governments and schools, and investment in addressing wildlife-related pandemic concerns. 

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  • Video
    04/11/2025

    This Week at Interior April 11, 2025

    Video

    Transcript:

    (MUSIC BEGINS)


    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!


    (MUSIC ENDS)

     

    News and headlines from Interior April 11, 2025

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