DOI

Deputy Secretary of the Interior Michael L. Connor and Deputy Under Secretary for U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources and Environment Ann Mills today concluded a two-day visit to the Yakima River Basin where they met with local stakeholders, including the Yakama Nation, to assess progress on several projects associated with the Yakima River Basin Integrated Water Resource Management Plan

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Lawrence S. “Larry” Roberts today announced that the Obama Administration has exceeded its goal of placing half a million acres of tribal homelands into trust for federally recognized tribes.

The U.S. Departments of Interior and Agriculture today announced more than $47 million in investments to help water districts and producers on private working lands better conserve water resources. The funds include $15 million in USDA funds and $32.6 million from the Bureau of Reclamation for local projects to improve water and energy efficiency and provide a strengthened federal response to ongoing and potential drought across 13 states in the West.

Deputy Secretary of the Interior Mike Connor made a special visit to Horicon National Wildlife Refuge in Wisconsin today to learn more about the importance of the federally protected Horicon Marsh and the neighboring state lands and waters.

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell today, as part of Earth Day celebrations, announced the next phase of bridging to the Tamiami Trail, an ongoing project which provides ecological restoration benefits to Everglades National Park and the central Everglades in Florida. The new trail will raise a two-and-a-half mile section of U.S. Highway 41 in the South Florida region and is the latest milestone in the Obama Administration’s efforts to conserve the Everglades’ historic and iconic wildlife habitat and water flows.

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and California Secretary for Natural Resources John Laird today announced the final environmental review of an innovative landscape-scale blueprint to support renewable energy development and conservation on 10 million acres of federal public lands, managed by the Bureau of Land Management in the California desert.

The U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration has awarded $8,441,000 in grant funding to 47 states and the Navajo Nation to reduce mining accidents, injuries and illnesses by supporting safety and health training courses and other programs.

WASHINGTON, DC - December 21, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- As part of President Obama’s all-of-the-above strategy to expand domestic energy production, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today announced the release of the Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the McCoy Solar Energy Project, a proposed 750-megawatt facility in Riverside County that would be one of the largest solar energy projects on public lands in the California desert.

WASHINGTON, DC - February 24, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Desiree Brown, the former treasurer of a private mortgage lending company, Taylor, Bean & Whitaker (TBW), pleaded guilty today to conspiring to commit bank, wire and securities fraud for her role in a more than $1.9 billion fraud scheme that contributed to the failures of Colonial Bank and TBW.