Department of the Interior

Funding recipients include states, American Indians, and eligible counties

November 17, 2009 -- DENVER, CO – The Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) today announced that it disbursed more than $10.68 billion in Fiscal Year 2009 from revenues collected from energy and mineral production on Federal and American Indian lands, including energy and mineral production on the Federal Outer Continental Shelf.    » read more »

WASHINGTON, Nov. 16, 2009 – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that their agencies would acquire seven parcels of high value conservation land, totaling 5,026 acres in Colorado, Montana and Nevada for $11.7 million. The largest is a 4,573-acre property within the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument in Colorado.    » read more »

November 16, 2009 -- WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy has announced that the City of Worthington, OH has received $500,000 in appropriation funds to be used for the improvement of sewer systems for a cleaner watershed in the city. The funds for the project, which were requested by Rep. Kilroy, were included in the 2010 Interior and Environment Appropriations Bill.    » read more »

36 Million Acres for Oil and Gas Development; March 17 Sale Could Produce up to 1.3 Billion Barrels of Oil

November 13, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today announced the Department will hold an oil and natural gas lease sale for the Central Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf that will offer nearly 36 million acres and could produce up to 1.3 billion barrels of oil and 5.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.    » read more »

Salazar: Brown Pelican Recovery is “an Amazing Success Story”

November 11, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks Tom Strickland and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Sam Hamilton today announced that the brown pelican, a species once decimated by the pesticide DDT, has recovered and is being removed from the list of threatened and endangered species under the Endangered Species Act.

“At a time when so many species of wildlife are threatened, we once in a while have an opportunity to celebrate an amazing success story,” Salazar said. “Today is such a day. The brown pelican is back!”    » read more »

Hinchey Leads 89 House Members in Calling on Interior Secretary Salazar to Administratively Protect Wild Lands in Utah While Congress Continues to Work on Legislation

November 10, 2009 -- Washington, DC - Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) today led a letter from a group of 89 members of the U.S. House of Representatives calling on Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to protect Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands proposed for wilderness designation in Utah while Congress continues to work on measures to legislatively protect 9.4 million acres of public, wilderness quality land in the state.    » read more »

November 9, 2009 -- BISMARCK, N.D. – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar told energy executives today that the President’s comprehensive energy strategy seeks to responsibly develop all fronts and that North Dakota offers significant conventional and renewable resources that can help to reduce America’s dependence on foreign energy while creating new jobs.    » read more »

November 9, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar released the following statement on the Obama Administration’s actions to deal with the California Water Crisis:

“Today, Governor Schwarzenegger is signing milestone water legislation in Fresno County, one of the counties hardest hit by California's water crisis – a crisis caused by the brutal combination of a three-year drought, the collapse of native fisheries in the Bay Delta, and the fact that California's investments in water conservation and infrastructure have not kept up with its growth.    » read more »

November 7, 2009 -- SHANKSVILLE, Pa. – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today joined Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, Senator Bob Casey and the families of the Flight 93 heroes to break ground on the Flight 93 National Memorial. Senator Arlen Specter and Congressmen John Murtha and Bill Shuster had representatives there on their behalf.

“On behalf of a grateful nation, we say to the men and women of Flight 93 who gave their lives on September 11, 2001 to prevent terrorists from attacking our nation’s capital ‘We will never forget you,’” Salazar said. “This national memorial will always stand to honor you and to remind future generations that you fought and were victorious over the forces of evil.”    » read more »

Department of Interior, Washington, D.C.

November 05, 2009 -- THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Please, everybody have a seat. Thank you to Jefferson Keel, thanks for the wonderful introduction; to Clarence Jackson for the invocation. Good morning to all of you. I am honored to be with you today at this unique and historic event, the largest and most widely attended gathering of tribal leaders in our history. (Applause.) And I am so grateful to many members of Congress who could join us today, along with several members of my Cabinet who will be participating in this conference today.    » read more »

Nov. 05, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Citing what he called America’s urgent need for a diverse energy supply, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today detailed several renewable energy projects that are on a fast track, including a 400-megawatt solar tower development available for public review and five others that are poised to begin environmental impact studies. Five of these are solar projects and one is a wind farm; all are located in California.    » read more »

November 2, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, DC – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today hosted a Clean Energy Economy Forum with stakeholders from 39 states across the country at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.

Deputy Secretary David Hayes and other top Department of the Interior officials spoke about the importance of renewable energy and job creation, climate impact and adaptation, and efforts to support and maintain the treasured landscapes of America in the emerging clean energy economy.    » read more »

Inaction, Delay in Changing Bush-era Rule to Protect Streams Put Appalachian Communities at Risk and Put Focus on Environmental Protection Agency

November 2, 2009 -- Washington, D.C. -- The U.S. Department of the Interior intends to delay issuing a rule that would protect Appalachian streams and communities from mountaintop removal coal mining, giving even more urgency to the need for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to take action to address this destructive practice.    » read more »

October 28, 2009 -- Washington, D.C. - Today, the Obama administration announced a formal Memorandum of Understanding signed between various agencies involved in the siting of large-scale renewable energy projects and transmission lines, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Department of Commerce, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency, Council on Environmental Quality, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, and Department of the Interior.

Statement of Sierra Club Clean Energy Solutions Campaign Director Alex Levinson    » read more »

Increased Funding is Good News for America’s Wildlife, Waters and Lands

October 29, 2009 -- Washington, DC – Today, the House and Senate cleared a $32.2 billion Interior and Environment appropriations bill for the 2010 fiscal year. The $4.7 billion increase over 2009 funding levels will improve conservation efforts across the board and give agencies the resources they need to take on new climate change initiatives. President Obama is expected to sign the bill into law.    » read more »