All articles tagged with #interior department
Ahead of a critical visit to China, Donald Trump spent hours on Truth Social railing against Democrats and promoting a costly Reflecting Pool renovation, claiming patriots urged it; The New York Times reported the Interior Department doubled the project’s price to nearly $14 million under a no-bid contract, raising questions about urgency versus proper bidding as Trump touts an aesthetic overhaul of Washington.
A Washington nonprofit, The Cultural Landscape Foundation, filed a federal lawsuit to stop the Interior Department and the National Park Service from repainting the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool blue without the required historic-preservation reviews, arguing the color undermines the pool’s solemn design; Trump supporters say renovations will beautify the site, and a judge will decide the case.
The Interior Department canceled a rule that had designated conservation as a use of public lands, reversing a conservation-first policy and signaling a shift in federal land management under the current administration.
A Washington, D.C. nonprofit filed a federal lawsuit to stop the Trump administration’s plan to paint the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool blue, alleging the Interior Department violated federal law by not completing required public consultation and environmental review before starting the work; a judge has asked for responses and may hold a hearing as renovation proceeds amid broader changes to national monuments.
The Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management revoked the American Prairie Foundation’s grazing license in Phillips County, Montana, paving the way to remove about 900 bison so federal lands can be used for cattle; the move—rooted in the Taylor Grazing Act—has drawn praise from ranchers and Republicans but opposition from environmentalists and Native tribes, with relocation costs running into hundreds of thousands of dollars and the land-division plan still unclear.
Dirk Kempthorne, a Republican who led Boise as mayor, went on to serve as Idaho governor and later as U.S. Interior secretary under George W. Bush, dying at 74 in Boise after a colon cancer diagnosis; his tenure included the polar bear being listed as a threatened species in 2008.
Dirk Kempthorne, Idaho’s 30th governor and former U.S. secretary of the interior, died at 74 from complications of late-stage cancer, ending a public career that included Boise mayor, U.S. senator, and cabinet member; Idaho leaders lowered flags to half-staff to honor a figure renowned for blending development with conservation and for his lasting impact on state and national policy.
Interior Secretary Burgum told the House Appropriations Committee there are no plans for workforce reductions (RIFs) at the Interior Department after last fall signaled a plan to cut more than 2,000 jobs; a buyout/early retirement program has been completed and many RIF notices have been rescinded. Congress imposed guardrails in FY2026 to protect National Park Service staffing, noting parks’ popularity, while Burgum said the focus should be on filling public-facing park roles. The department is consolidating operations and moving wildland firefighting programs toward a broader consolidation with USDA’s Forest Service, with the FY2027 budget reflecting these reassignments; some NPS staff were remote and not park-facing, and transfers are within the budget rather than new cuts. This is a developing story.
The Interior Department plans to reimburse TotalEnergies about $1 billion in 2022 offshore-wind lease fees in exchange for abandoning U.S. offshore wind projects and investing in fossil-fuel infrastructure, a move that raises questions about the department’s authority to issue refunds and could face legal challenges from states and affected communities; the funds would likely come from the Judgment Fund since there’s no clear statutory process for such reimbursements.
The Trump-era push to purge or rewrite park exhibits deemed to disparage history has bogged down into a months-long, chaotic process: hundreds of items flagged across parks, a dissolved review team, staffing shortages, and unclear guidance, with some changes made (like removing the slavery exhibit in Philadelphia) but most sites still awaiting decisions.
A coalition of groups filed a federal lawsuit in Boston challenging President Trump’s March 2025 executive order to remove “corrosive ideology” from national parks, arguing that dozens of signs and displays have been altered or removed to scrub topics like racism, slavery, sexism, LGBTQ+ rights, Indigenous history, and climate change; the suit names the Interior Department, Secretary Doug Burgum, and the National Park Service’s acting director, among others, and follows a judge’s order to reinstate a slavery exhibit at Independence Hall.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum convened seven-state governors to press for a new Colorado River agreement as climate-driven drought shrinks flows for 40 million people and 5.5 million acres of farmland. Downstream Arizona, California and Nevada seek mandatory cuts, while upstream Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Wyoming push for voluntary measures; no breakthrough emerged ahead of the Feb. 14 deadline, with a five-year interim deal floated as a pragmatic path forward. Looming is the end-of-year rule set and a risk that court battles could decide allocations if a key compact’s tripwire is crossed. Snowpack is grim this winter, threatening Lake Powell hydropower and downstream deliveries, and options include upstream releases or reduced releases to Lake Mead. Politically, the issue intersects with tensions between Trump, Newsom and Polis, complicating negotiations.
A federal judge ruled that the Empire Wind offshore wind project off Long Island can restart construction, saying halting work would cause irreparable harm and that the Interior Department's national-security pause was unlikely to justify continued delay, potentially saving Equinor over $1 billion in contracts.
The Interior Department published five potential future management options for the drought-stricken Colorado River, ranging from action as usual to scenarios that could trigger water cuts for California, Nevada, and Arizona; no preferred option is identified, and any plan requires agreement among the seven basin states, with deadlines such as Feb. 14 for an agreement and Oct. 1 for a final decision. Public comment is open through early March as Lake Powell and Lake Mead sit at roughly 27% and 33% capacity.
The White House has removed the Atlantic from the upcoming oil lease plan following political opposition from Republican lawmakers and Florida officials, with the proposal now focusing on the eastern Gulf of Mexico and a no-lease zone around Florida.