This Week at Interior June 30, 2023

Transcript:

Aloha, my name is Rhonda Loh and welcome to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. And I’m Ken Hon, scientist in charge of the U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, and you’re watching This Week at Interior! 

This Week at Interior 

Secretary Haaland and Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks Shannon Estenoz were in Hawaiʻi this week to highlight how President Biden’s Investing in America agenda is helping to protect iconic Hawaiian bird species, strengthen the Native Hawaiian Community, and invest in the science and infrastructure that support our public lands and waters. Among her stops: 

*The Secretary visited with staff from Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge and toured Keauhou Bird Conservation Center following her announcement that Interior has committed nearly $16 million to prevent the imminent extinction of Hawaiian Forest Birds, part of $2 billion in investments from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act to restore lands and waters and advance climate resilience.

*She met with members of the Native Hawaiian Community to discuss the intergenerational impacts of assimilationist policies, including federal Indian boarding schools, and highlighted Interior's commitment to working with Indigenous communities to protect our lands and waters and revitalize Native languages. 

*And Secretary Haaland, Senator Brian Schatz and U.S. Geological Survey Director David Applegate took part in a ground blessing ceremony in Hilo for a new facility that will house two USGS science centers: the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and the Pacific Island Ecosystems Research Center. 

The Bureau of Land Management held an auction for utility-scale solar energy development in Nevada this week, resulting in a record-breaking $105.15 million in high bids. The auction of four parcels across nearly 24,000 acres in the Amargosa Desert could support close to 3 gigawatts of renewable energy to the electrical grid. It's the highest-yielding onshore renewable energy auction in the bureau’s history. 

Interior is celebrating the groundbreaking of the TransWest Express Transmission Project. That's a new high-voltage interregional transmission line that will extend from south-central Wyoming through northwestern Colorado and central Utah, ending in southern Nevada. The transmission line will add more than 1,000 jobs during construction and, once complete, will provide 3,000 megawatts of new transmission capacity. 

The Bureau of Indian Education has awarded an additional five-year contract to increase access for behavioral health and wellness support to all students and staff at Bureau-funded schools and programs. The program was initially designed to increase access to services during the COVID-19 pandemic. It provides virtual counseling and on-site crisis services at all Bureau-funded schools and programs with Indigenous focused, evidence-based and trauma-informed behavioral health and wellness support. 

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service this week announced it's expanding hunting opportunities on approximately 3,000 acres in three National Wildlife Refuges: Cahaba River National Wildlife Refuge in Alabama, Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge in Florida and Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge in Minnesota. The Fish and Wildlife Service is also proposing a phase-out of lead ammunition and tackle at eight national wildlife refuges because of adverse effects on human and wildlife health. 

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management this week proposed an update to 20-year-old regulations to protect American taxpayers from the costs of decommissioning offshore wells and infrastructure. If approved, they will ensure that energy companies are financially prepared to take on their responsibilities while protecting the taxpayer from incurring the associated costs. 

Interior welcomed more than 200 small businesses to the Denver Federal Center last week for an Industry Day. That's an event that supports Interior’s priorities by growing and diversifying the Department's small business vendor base. The Industry Day was designed to promote the Administration’s historic investments through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act. 

And our social media Picture of the Week, the dazzling synchronous fireflies of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. These fireflies are one of at least 19 firefly species that live in the park, and one of only a few species in the world known to synchronize their flash patterns. 

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That's This Week at Interior. 
 

This Week: Secretary Haaland travels to Hawai'i to highlight President Biden’s Investing in America agenda; the Bureau of Land Management marks the highest-yielding onshore renewable energy auction in its history; Interior celebrates the groundbreaking of a new power transmission line that stretches from Wyoming to Nevada; the Bureau of Indian Education awards an additional contract to increase access for behavioral health and wellness support to all students and staff; expanded hunting opportunities are coming to National Wildlife refuges in Alabama, Florida and Minnesota from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; a new proposed rule from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will protect taxpayers from the costs of decommissioning offshore wells; Interior welcomes more than 200 small businesses to an Industry Day in Denver; and fireflies light up the night in 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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