Interior Dept.

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After Halting Air-Quality Tests, a 180 by NPS

WaPo report on shuttering of monitoring in all 63 national parks seems to have changed NPS' mind

(Newser) - The Trump administration has halted air-quality monitoring at every national park in the country, though following media reporting, there are indications the stoppage will now be short-lived. The National Park Service falls under the Interior Department, which issued stop-work orders last week to the two contractors who run the monitoring...

Mad Scramble in US Museums on Native American Displays

New rules handed down by Biden administration prohibit such exhibits without consent from tribes

(Newser) - Museums across America have started closing exhibits highlighting Native American artifacts in an attempt to comply with new Biden administration rules that mandate venues get the OK from Indigenous tribes before displaying those samples. The requirements under the updated Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act , originally passed in 1990,...

Biden Yanks Alaska Oil Leases
Biden Yanks Alaska Oil Leases
Sep 7, 2023 7:25 AM CDT

Biden Yanks Alaska Oil Leases

'We have a responsibility,' president says of Interior Dept. move in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

(Newser) - As then-President Trump's days in the White House came to a close, an Alaskan state development agency was granted a slew of oil and gas leases that ended decades of a drilling moratorium in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. This week, President Biden's Department of the Interior nixed...

In a First, US Assesses Grim Toll at Native American Schools

At least 500, and probably thousands, of children taken from their families died, report says

(Newser) - For the first time, the federal government has assessed and acknowledged the harm done to Native American children at boarding schools it backed or ran throughout most of the 19th and 20th centuries. A report released Wednesday by the Interior Department said the children were subjected to sexual abuse, whippings,...

Judge Hands Green Advocates Big Win on Offshore Drilling

Scraps White House plan to sell oil and gas leases in Gulf of Mexico

(Newser) - A federal court has rejected a plan to lease millions of acres in the Gulf of Mexico for offshore oil drilling, saying the Biden administration did not adequately take into account the lease sale's effect on planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions, per the AP . The decision Thursday by US District...

US Report Suggest Changes in Oil and Gas Leases

Administration report calls for raising rates but not banning drilling on public land

(Newser) - The Biden administration on Friday recommended an overhaul of the nation's oil and gas leasing program to limit areas available for energy development and raise costs for oil and gas companies to drill on public land and water. The long-awaited report by the Interior Department stops short of recommending...

Deb Haaland's Confirmation Is a First

Senate approves first Native American Cabinet secretary

(Newser) - "It's difficult to not feel obligated to protect this land," Deb Haaland said during her confirmation hearings, "and I feel that every Indigenous person in this country understands that." That will be her job, now that the Senate has confirmed her appointment as secretary of...

Judge to Acting Public Lands Chief: You're Out

William Pendley removed from role after ruling says he's been 'unlawfully' serving for 424 days

(Newser) - He had a good, but apparently illegal, run. William Perry Pendley got some bad news Friday via a federal judge, who ordered the 75-year-old to be removed as the head of the Bureau of Land Management, a role he'd held for 424 days without Senate confirmation. "Pendley has...

Coming Soon to Sprawling Alaska Refuge: Oil Drills

Interior secretary makes controversial move on Arctic territory

(Newser) - A giant wildlife refuge in Alaska home to caribou and polar bears will soon have something new on the landscape: oil and gas drills. The Department of the Interior on Monday approved a program to dole out drilling leases for a 1.6-million-acre coastal plain in the Arctic National Wildlife...

Days Into New Job, Interior Chief Faces Ethics Inquiry

Watchdog opens investigation into David Bernhardt after Democrats complain

(Newser) - Less than one week into his new job, the Interior Department chief is facing an internal ethics investigation. The department's inspector general announced the inquiry into David Bernhardt after receiving complaints from eight Democratic senators as well as environmental groups, reports the Washington Post . Bernhardt is a former gas...

Trump Has Made Pick to Head Interior Dept., Despite Pushback

Acting department chief David Bernhardt has faced criticism from environmental groups

(Newser) - President Trump said Monday that he's nominating David Bernhardt, a former lobbyist for oil and gas companies and other industries, to head the Interior Department despite objections from environmental groups that Bernhardt already was making regulatory decisions on the country's natural resources to benefit industries. Trump tweeted his...

Ryan Zinke Out as Interior Secretary

A replacement will be named next week, per President Trump

(Newser) - Late last month, Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva penned an op-ed asking Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to step down from his post due to a swirl of "scandals and nepotism." It looks like Grijalva is getting his wish: Per Bloomberg , sources reported that Zinke told the White House he'...

Zinke Didn't Like an Op-Ed on Him. Things Got Personal

Interior secretary accuses Rep. Raul Grijalva of alcohol abuse, using tax dollars as 'hush money'

(Newser) - A scathing opinion piece on Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, penned by a Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee and published Friday by USA Today , has caught Zinke's attention—and he's offering some eyebrow-raising "thoughts" of his own online. The op-ed by Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva asked...

$139K for 'Secretary's Door' Raises Questions at Interior Dept.

Zinke spokesperson isn't commenting on work order

(Newser) - Records show the Interior Department spent nearly $139,000 last year for construction at the agency that was labeled on a work order as "Secretary's Door," the AP reports. A spokesperson for Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke did not provide answers Thursday to questions about whether changes had...

Interior Secretary Zinke Has an Unusual Flag Habit

He adheres to old Navy ritual in which his flag is raised when he's physically at HQ

(Newser) - President Trump may be busting some White House traditions , but other members of his administration are adhering to some unusual ones. The Washington Post reports on an "arcane" Navy ritual being observed by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. Whenever Zinke is physically in the Interior Department's Washington, DC, headquarters,...

After Dig at Trump, Interior Dept Ordered to Stop Tweeting

'Urgent directive' was issued from DC

(Newser) - The Interior Department was ordered to stop tweeting from all its official accounts Friday after two posts from the National Park Service that seemed to criticize the new administration. One tweet illustrated the big difference in turnout between President Obama's 2009 inauguration and Friday's more lightly attended event...

Feds: Big Oil Not Using the Leases They Have

Interior Department issues report to push back against complaints

(Newser) - With oil companies and Republicans criticizing the Obama administration for being too slow to issue new offshore drilling permits in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, the Interior Department hit back with a report yesterday revealing that the industry isn’t using the majority of the leases it already...

US Won't Lift Ban on Offshore Gulf Drilling

It's a reversal of a pre-BP decision

(Newser) - In a reversal, the Obama administration said today it will not pursue offshore drilling off the East Coast of the US and the eastern Gulf of Mexico. A senior administration said that because of the BP oil spill, the Interior Department will not propose any new oil drilling in waters...

US Lifts Moratorium on Drilling Early

Feds again allow deepwater work in Gulf

(Newser) - The government's controversial moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico is ending more than a month early. The Interior Department lifted the ban this afternoon, opening the way for drilling to resume within weeks, the AP reports. The feds are satisfied that new rules put into place will...

Judge Won't Delay His Ruling to Lift Moratorium

White House wanted a stay while it appeals to higher court

(Newser) - A federal judge in New Orleans has refused to delay his decision to strike down a 6-month moratorium on deepwater drilling imposed after the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The Justice Department had asked US District Judge Martin Feldman to stay his ruling while it appeals to the...

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