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The U.S. House of Representatives approved a massive wildfire and drought response bill last week mostly along party lines. The legislation now moves to the Senate, where it faces an uncertain future. The package comprises more than 40 previously introduced bills. It would authorize $500 million for forest management projects, including prescribed fire, and it would pump another $500 million into the Interior Department's efforts to "reduce the near-term likelihood of Lake Mead and Lake Powell declining critically low water elevations."
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The goal of the Secretary’s Tribal Advisory Committee is to get input from tribal leaders on Department of the Interior issues impacting Indigenous communities before policy is made.
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The Interior Department announced the distribution of $279 million to outdoor recreation and conservation projects across the U.S., with tens of millions of dollars going to states in the Mountain West.
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The first volume in the Interior's investigative report shows that the United States operated or supported 408 boarding schools in 37 states between 1819 and 1969, including 127 in the Mountain West.
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The Interior Department is reopening lease sales on public lands. However, the agency announced that it was 80% less acreage than the oil and gas industry nominated for leasing. The Interior also increased royalty rates.
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Interior Secretary Deb Haaland recently announced she will remove some federal oversight from tribal water rules. A memorandum that dates back to 1975 required federal approvals for tribes to change their water codes, but now that’s no longer the case.
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Interior Dept official visits western cities to monitor wildfire challenges and tout federal fundingThe Interior Department’s Deputy Secretary is visiting several places around the West to tout federal funding for wildland firefighting. That included a stop in Boise on Monday, where he toured the National Interagency Fire Center and attended a briefing on this year’s upcoming fire season.
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Lawmakers are pushing for a "do-over" of an Interior Department contract to review tribal jail deaths awarded to a former official. Nearly half of the deaths he was to review occurred on his watch.
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The Interior Department's moving the Bureau of Land Management's headquarters back to Washington, D.C., while establishing a Western HQ in Colorado. On Tuesday, BLM Director Tracy Stone-Manning shared details on how that'll work.
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The Biden administration wants Congress to increase drilling companies' royalty rates, which have stayed at 12.5% for 100 years.