President Recommends $12 Billion for Interior in Fiscal Year 2010 Budget Proposal

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The President's 2010 Budget includes $12 billion for the Department of the Interior to undertake initiatives to promote energy security with a focus on clean renewable sources and strategies to address climate change, protect and preserve America's national parks and public lands, strengthen Native American communities, enhance outdoor opportunities for young people, and conserve wetlands and wildlife habitat.

“President Obama has laid out a fiscally responsible blueprint for 2010,” Secretary Salazar said. “He has made tough choices, underscored his priorities and stressed the need for federal agencies to carry out their missions with transparency and accountability to the American taxpayer.”

Highlights of the proposed funding for Interior include the following:

• Invests more than $50 million to promote renewable energy projects on Federal lands and waters.
• Assists state and federal land management agencies with more than $130 million in additional funding to monitor, adaptively manage and assess the impacts of climate change on the Nation's lands, fish and wildlife.
• Protects national parks with $100 million in additional funds to operate and maintain park facilities and resources and $25 million to leverage private donations for park projects.
• Conserves new federal and state lands and protects endangered species with appropriations of about $420 million from the Land and Water Conservation Fund for Interior and the U.S. Forest Service, with annual increases to reach full funding of $900 million by 2014.
• Creates educational and job opportunities for young people through expanded environmental education activities and new programs to encourage them to hunt and fish responsibly.
• Strengthens Native American communities through an increase of more than $100 million for enhanced law enforcement and education.
• Anticipates future costs for catastrophic wildfires with a new contingent funding reserve of $75 million for the Department of the Interior.
• Encourages responsible development of oil and gas resources and closes loopholes that have given oil companies excessive royalty relief for offshore leases.

More information on the President's FY2010 Budget for the Department of the Interior is online at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/