Department of the Interior

Interior Department Makes Biggest Assault Yet on Landmark Environmental Law

August 11, 2008 -- Washington, D.C. - A new set of draft rules proposed by the Bush administration and reported by the Associated Press today would effectively eradicate the key laws that protect endangered species in the United States.

Statement of Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope

This plan repeats and includes all of the disdain for science and political trumping of expertise that has characterized previous Bush Administration efforts to dismantle fundamental environmental laws.

These rules send a clear signal that the Administration will spend the rest of its days razing what remains of the rules and regulations that have kept wildlife like the bald eagle from going extinct.    » read more »

WASHINGTON, D.C., July 16, 2008 -- In a Record of Decision issued today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced that it will make land available for oil and gas leasing in the northeast portion of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A).

“This action sets the stage for a major lease sale this fall. This is welcome news at a time when Americans are paying record prices at the pump,” said C. Stephen Allred, Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals, in signing the ROD.

At the same lease sale, the BLM also plans to offer land in the northwest portion of the NPR-A.    » read more »

April 15, 2008 -- Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) today held a hearing on the Administration’s Fiscal Year 2009 budget request for the Department of the Interior. Senator Feinstein is the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies.

During the hearing, Chairman Feinstein touched on the following topics: the elimination of rural fire grants, abandoned mine clean up on federal lands, oil and natural gas royalties, the restoration of the San Joaquin/Sacramento Delta, managerial problems with the U.S. Park Police, and the collapse of the Klamath and Sacramento salmon runs.

Following is the prepared text of Chairman Feinstein’s opening remarks:    » read more »

Sales Launch Enhanced Revenue Sharing Program, Increased Royalty Rates; Sale 206 Sets Record for Highest Total in High Bids

March 19, 2008 -- NEW ORLEANS — Two federal sales of offshore oil and natural gas leases in the Eastern and Central Gulf of Mexico attracted more than $3.7 billion in high bids today, inaugurating enhanced revenue sharing with oil and gas producing Gulf states, instituting higher royalty rates and underscoring the region’s continuing importance as a vital source of domestic energy production for the nation.

The first sale, the Central Gulf of Mexico Sale 206, attracted a record-setting $3,677,688,245 in high bids. This sets the record in high bids in U.S. leasing history since area-wide leasing began in 1983.    » read more »

Plan Includes Provisions to Protect, Conserve Water Supplies

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 14, 2008 – Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne today issued the 2008 Annual Operating Plan (AOP) for the operation of Colorado River reservoirs and distribution of Colorado River water to Arizona, Nevada and California. A letter transmitting the approved AOP was sent to the governors of each of the seven Colorado River Basin States.    » read more »

February 29, 2008 -- Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) today strongly urged Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne to not ease Reagan-era restrictions on carrying loaded firearms in America’s national parks and wildlife refuges.

“I was appalled to learn that the Interior Department may relax a Reagan-era ban on carrying loaded firearms in national parks that has been in place for 25 years,” Senator Feinstein said.

“Changing these regulations would invite poaching, be very difficult to understand and enforce, and put the public at serious risk.”    » read more »

Secretary Awards Guam $6 Million for Public Health, Education

February 26, 2008, WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne met with the President of the Republic of Palau Tommy Remengesau on Feb. 25, 2008 to discuss a number of topics, including the possibility of creating a National Heritage Area on the Palau island of Peleliu to commemorate that important World War II battle, and the upcoming Review of the Compact of Free Association.    » read more »

Funding Includes 14 Hazardous Fuels Reduction Projects

February 20, 2008, RED ROCK CANYON, Nevada -- Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne today approved $78.6 million for conservation, restoration and recreation projects in Nevada, including $25 million for park improvements and $14.6 million to reduce the threat of wildfires around the state.    » read more »

February 12, 2008, WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary Indian Affairs Carl J. Artman, Seminole Tribe of Florida Vice-Chairman Richard Bowers and Mashantucket Pequot Vice-Chairman Kenneth Reels have signed a partnership agreement that will utilize the tribes’ purchasing power to promote Indian Country business development under DOI’s intertribal economic consortium initiative.    » read more »

The brown pelican is known for its fishing displays, plunging headlong from the air into the water and rising with a mouthful of fish. In the same dramatic fashion, the pelican has pulled off an amazing recovery after a steep plunge toward extinction,” said Secretary Kempthorne at a press conference on Friday.

Budget Focuses on Emerging Challenges: “Many of our initiatives look to the future of this Nation, Kempthorne said at a budget press conference on Monday, securing for our children and grandchildren healthy lands and waters, opportunities to connect with Nature and the foundations of continued economic prosperity.”

February 4, 2008 -- The Department of the Interior’s Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians (OST) budget request for fiscal year 2009 is $181.6 million, a reduction of $7.7 million compared to FY 2008 enacted funding due to the completion of some trust reform efforts, elimination of the Indian Land Consolidation Program, and management efficiencies.    » read more »

Working with America to Prevent a Silent Spring

February 4, 2008, WASHINGTON, D.C. – Pledging to work with wildlife conservation agencies and bird conservation groups across the nation, Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne today unveiled a Presidential initiative to halt and reverse the dramatic decline in U.S. wild bird populations.    » read more »

Statement By John Rogers, Union Of Concerned Scientists

January 14, 2008 -- CAMBRIDGE (January 14, 2008) – The Interior Department's Minerals Management Service (MMS) today released a draft environmental impact statement for the Cape Wind energy project, a proposed 130-turbine wind farm sited off the Massachusetts coast in Nantucket Sound. The agency's two-year analysis assessed Cape Wind's potential effect on 27 categories ranging from visual impact to aviation interference to fishing disruption.    » read more »