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This Week at Interior

Secretary Burgum was on hand this week at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, as EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin signed a final rule approving the State of West Virginia’s request to regulate the injection of carbon dioxide into deep rock formations. The move, known as "Class VI Primacy," acknowledges that the state is best positioned to protect its underground sources of drinking water while bolstering energy independence.

This is a great day for West Virginia, and it's a great day for America, because we're delegating responsibility back to the state where it belongs and where it can be responsibly executed. And again, at the end of the day part of the EPA's mission is to make sure that we've got clean air, clean water, clean soil health all of those things, but this action helps move us in that direction.  

West Virginia is the fourth state granted Class VI primacy under the Trump administration, joining Louisiana, North Dakota and Wyoming.

Unleashing American energy was just one of a range of topics on the agenda this week as Secretary Burgum welcomed Fox News' "Special Report with Bret Baier" to Interior for a live broadcast from the Yates Auditorium. Along with energy as a national security issue, the Secretary also talked about issues affecting the nation's economy, recent meetings with the Japanese and Indian ambassadors, and outdoor recreation.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs this week launched Operation Spirit Return, an initiative to help solve missing and unidentified person cases involving American Indians and Alaska Natives in the United States. The initiative is being conducted by the Bureau's Missing and Murdered Unit and will focus on reuniting remains with family members and returning them to their tribal communities.  

Secretary Burgum this week welcomed the governors and delegates of American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands to the Interagency Group on Insular Areas. The annual meeting allows representatives of the island territories direct access to administration leaders to discuss the many issues and challenges they face back home.

And our social media Picture of the Week, the Ansel Adams Wilderness in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California. This stunning region is named in honor of the legendary photographer and environmentalist Ansel Adams, who captured the beauty of the American West through his iconic black-and-white landscapes.  

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That's This Week at Interior!  

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This Week, at Interior...

Former North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum was sworn in this week as the 55th Secretary of the Interior following his confirmation by the Senate. The Secretary was welcomed aboard at the Steward Lee Udall Building by an enthusiastic gathering of Interior employees. With a career rooted in leadership and service, Secretary Burgum expressed his gratitude and outlined his vision for an Interior future driven forward by innovation versus being held back by regulation.

It’s such an honor to have been confirmed as the 55th Secretary of the Interior and I’m certainly deeply grateful to President Trump for nominating me and placing his trust in me to lead this great Department.

Success is always rooted in great teamwork, and I’m going to look forward to working with all of you to unlock the full potential of the Department of the Interior. I believe that the work that you’re doing, you chose to do it, because you believed it had purpose.  

But I also know that there’s a chunk of your job that you’re doing today that’s probably mind-numbing, and soul-suckingly boring (laughter) and our job is to find those pieces of your job and make them go away. We’re cutting red tape, not just for Americans, we want to cut it for all of you, so you can work on the stuff, the reason why you chose the field that you did.

So I want to thank each of you, all the many careers that are here and those who might be listening in, for your dedication, your passion, and your commitment to service. Together I know that we can move our important missions forward, and we’ll make a lasting impact on the future.

After his welcome ceremony the new Secretary got right to work, signing Secretarial Orders to address the national energy emergency, unleash American energy, and deliver emergency price relief for American families. He also announced the President's revocation of former Outer Continental Shelf withdrawals, along with new steps to achieve prosperity through deregulation, and directed the Department to take all necessary steps to unleash the State of Alaska’s abundant and largely untapped supply of natural resources.

You can follow Secretary Burgum on social media @SecretaryBurgum.

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That’s This Week at Interior.

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Interior. It's more than just the department of everything else, it's about energy. Powering the nation's future through oil, gas, and coal; and harnessing the sun and wind.  It's about parks and preservation; Telling the American story for new generations and protecting the special places that make our country unique. It's about trust; upholding our sacred responsibilities to Native Americans and Alaska Natives. It's about conservation; protecting the wondrous wildlife of America and the habitat it lives in. It's about the land; sustaining the health diversity and productivity of public lands for multiple uses. It's about water; managing the dams, power plants and canals in 17 western states; bringing precious water to 31 million people. It's about restoration; restoring the land and habitat on the sites of abandoned mines. It's about science; understanding natural hazards and resources, developing new tools, supplying useful information. It's about safety; enforcing the regulations for responsible recovery and use of natural resources at sea. People, history, energy, land, water, science, responsible stewardship; that's what Interior is all about. This is our charge, our work is important and America depends on us.