Salazar Pushes Renewable Energy

http://www.doi.gov/news/09_News_Releases/031109c.html

From the Department of the Interior:

March 11, 2009

Secretary Salazar Issues Order to Spur Renewable Energy Development on U.S. Public Lands

Energy Zones a Key to New Initiative

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Citing the critical need to reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil, build a clean energy economy and create new jobs, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today issued a Secretarial Order making the production, development, and delivery of renewable energy top priorities for the Department.

“More so than ever, with job losses continuing to mount, we need to steer the country onto a new energy path,” Salazar said. “One that creates new jobs and puts America out front in new, growing industries, one that promotes investment and innovation here at home and one that makes wise use of our domestic resources.”

In addition to making renewable energy production a top priority for the Department, Salazar’s Secretarial order establishes an energy and climate change task force that will spur this agenda and identify specific zones on U.S. public lands where Interior can facilitate a rapid and responsible move to large-scale production of solar, wind, geothermal, and biomass energy.

For these renewable energy zones to succeed, Salazar pointed out, Interior will need to work closely with other federal agencies, states and American Indian tribes to determine what electric transmission infrastructure and transmission corridors are needed to deliver these renewable resources to major population centers.

“We will assign a high priority to identifying renewable energy zones and completing the permitting and appropriate environmental review of transmission rights-of-way applications that are necessary to deliver renewable energy generation to consumers,” Salazar said. “We have to connect the sun of the deserts and the wind of the plains with the places where people live.”

Interior manages one fifth of the country’s landmass, over 1.7 billion offshore acres, and lands with some of the highest renewable energy potential in the nation. Interior’s Bureau of Land Management has identified about 21 million acres of public land with wind energy potential in the 11 western states and about 29 million acres with solar energy potential in the six southwestern states. There are also 140 million acres of public land in western states and Alaska that have geothermal resource potential.

In addition, there is significant wind and wave energy potential offshore. The National Renewable Energy Lab has identified more than 1,000 gigawatts of wind potential off the Atlantic coast, and more than 900 gigawatts of wind potential off our Pacific Coast.

The task force will prioritize the permitting and appropriate environmental review of transmission rights-of-way applications that are necessary to deliver renewable energy generation to consumers. The task force will work to resolve obstacles to renewable energy permitting, siting, development, and production.

To help accomplish these goals, Interior may need to revise existing policies or create new policies, Salazar said, citing as examples the Geothermal, Wind, and West-Wide Corridors Programmatic Environmental Impact Statements and their respective Records of Decisions. Interior will also finalize a regulation for offshore renewable development.

Salazar explained that the Department of the Interior will continue to responsibly develop oil and gas resources on public lands. “In the last six weeks we have had five major oil and gas lease sales onshore, netting more than $32 million in revenue for taxpayers. And next week, I will be travelling to New Orleans to participate in a lease sale for the Central Gulf of Mexico. These will add important resources to our domestic energy production.”

New Drought Plan Offered

http://www.doi.gov/news/09_News_Releases/022709.html

From the Bureau of Reclamation:

Feb. 26, 2009

Secretary Salazar and Secretary Vilsack Pledge
Coordinated Federal Response to California Drought

Washington, DC – Today Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the creation of a Federal Drought Action Team that will work cooperatively to respond to communities facing significant drought. With California currently facing one of its worst droughts in decades, the Drought Action Team will work with Governor Schwarzenegger’s state drought response team to minimize the social, economic, and environmental impacts of the current drought.

The announcement follows last Friday’s announcement by the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation that, based on water forecasts, initial Water Year (WY) 2009 allocations for the Federal Central Valley Project (CVP) will be significantly limited for agricultural, municipal, industrial, and environmental uses.

“The drought situation in California is dire,” said Secretary Salazar. “Farms, ranches, and communities across the Central Valley are withering on the vine and in need of any help that the federal government can provide. The formation of a Federal Drought Action Team will ensure that the federal government’s response to the drought is coordinated across all agencies and that we are doing all we can to provide assistance where it is needed as quickly as possible.”

“President Obama has emphasized the need to have coordinated, transparent, and accountable actions throughout the federal government. With the creation of this Federal Drought Action Team, USDA and DOI will be working together to quickly deploy help to the communities that need it most,” Secretary Vilsack said. “During a disaster such as extreme drought, it is essential that farmers, ranchers, and rural communities have confidence that the government will be working together to ensure they have access to every tool available.”

The Federal Drought Action Team will include representatives appointed by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, along with representatives from other federal agencies. A similar federal drought action team was formulated in July 2005 to coordinate drought relief in the Pacific Northwest.

In addition, Secretary Salazar is directing the Bureau of Reclamation to work closely with State authorities to facilitate water transfers for the Drought Water Bank that is operated by the State. He also is directing Reclamation to provide operational flexibility to convey and store water to facilitate additional transfers and exchanges that can move water to critical-need areas, and to expedite any related environmental review and compliance actions. Finally, the Secretary is calling on Reclamation to explore ways in which funds recently appropriated to Reclamation under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for water reuse projects, and other water projects, might be used to help stretch California’s water supplies in the coming months.

Both USDA and DOI offer a range of assistance programs that help farmers, ranchers and rural communities impacted by drought. USDA programs that provide relief assistance include the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) administered by the Farm Service Agency (FSA), Crop Insurance through the Risk Management Agency (RMA), and the protection of rangeland forage from grasshopper outbreaks through the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). When approved, producers in individual counties may be eligible for Emergency Loans and the Emergency Conservation Program (ECP) administered by FSA. In addition, the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) provides technical assistance to help producers plan and manage natural resources on private lands and administers the Environmental Quality Incentives Program to assist land managers with efficient water quantity management during drought conditions. The NRCS also administers Agricultural Water Enhancement Program focuses specifically on conservation of ground and surface water.

Additionally, in partnership with the California Department of Water Resources, the NRCS Snow Survey and Water Supply Forecasting Program provides water supply information applicable to the affected area.

New Plan for Resource Management on Tribal Lands

http://www.doi.gov/bia/docs/EnergyInternshpPgmCorrectedPR.pdf

From the Bureau of Indian Affairs:

February 25, 2009

Skibine Announces New Effort to Recruit, Train Next Generation of Tribal Energy, Natural Resource Management Professionals

WASHINGTON – Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Economic Development – Indian Affairs George T. Skibine today announced a new effort to recruit and train American Indian and Alaska Native post-secondary students to become Indian Country’s next generation of tribal energy and natural resource management professionals. The Energy Resource Development Tribal Internship Program has been developed through a partnership between the Indian Affairs Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development (IEED), the Council of Energy Resource Tribes (CERT) and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) to help increase the number of American Indians and Alaska Natives who can effectively manage a tribe’s energy and natural resources.
“This internship program will offer an exciting opportunity for American Indians and Alaska Natives interested in the science and engineering professions, two fields where they are traditionally underrepresented,” Skibine said. “It will also help tribes by developing a cadre of professionals who have the training and expertise to aid them in managing the development of their energy and natural resources.”
Title V of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 requires the Secretary of the Interior to provide technical assistance to those Indian tribes seeking to develop their energy resources, establish an Indian energy resource development program and to further the goal of Indian self-determination. The internship program is one aspect of the IEED’s efforts to fulfill the act’s mandate.
The IEED will provide guidance and oversight for the program and funding for student recruitment. CERT, in coordination with ANL, will recruit interns from public, private and tribal institutions of higher learning. CERT also will seek to recruit tribes that are in various stages of energy development to provide mentors for the interns. It also will seek to match internship candidates with the pool of potential tribes and ANL research opportunities, and will work with ANL to identify strategic opportunities for internships based on current ANL programs and the availability of mentors at its facility.

“Tribes are being severely impacted by the inadequate number of available American Indian and Alaska Native energy resource professionals,” said CERT Executive Director A. David Lester. “We anticipate that the Native youth of today will play a critical role in Indian Country’s, and the nation’s, energy future as they inherit the responsibility for prudently managing tribal resources. Unless deliberate measures such as this internship program are undertaken to prepare them for such a role, however, we fear that many will be lost to other fields of work unrelated to their major fields of study.”
The program, which will be held annually, is slated to begin this summer and run for 10 weeks. Students will be housed at the ANL facility in DuPage County, Ill. Applicants will be considered based on whether they have the requisite skills to perform necessary tasks, if their needs will be met by the program and if they are interested in developing capabilities in sustainable energy programs.
“At this critical time, meeting the demand for energy from sustainable sources can only be achieved through investment in training programs such as the Energy Resource Development Tribal Internship Program,” said ANL’s Director of Educational Programs Harold Myron. “We are very excited to play a role in that effort by hosting interns from the program at Argonne.”
For more information about the Energy Resource Development Tribal Internship Program, contact the ANL Division of Educational Programs at 630-252-4114 or visit ANL’s website at http://www.dep.anl.gov and click on “Tribal Internships.” Information also can be found on CERT’s website at http://www.certredearth.com. The deadline for applications is April 3, 2009.
The Secretary of the Interior created the Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development, which is located in the Office of the Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs, to encourage economic development in Indian Country. The IEED’s mission is to foster strong Indian communities by creating jobs, Indian-owned businesses and a trained workforce, by developing Indian energy and mineral resources, and by increasing access to capital. The IEED believes that thriving economies and opportunities for work are the best solutions to Indian Country’s economic and social challenges.

Offshore Renewable Energy

http://www.mms.gov/ooc/press/2009/press0210.htm

From the Mineral Management Service:

February 10, 2009

Secretary Salazar Details Strategy for Comprehensive Energy Plan on U.S. Outer Continental Shelf

WASHINGTON, D.C. –

Saying he needed to restore order to a broken process, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today announced his strategy for developing an offshore energy plan that includes both conventional and renewable resources. His strategy calls for extending the public comment period on a proposed 5-year plan for oil and gas development on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf by 180 days, assembling a detailed report from Interior agencies on conventional and renewable offshore energy resources, holding four regional conferences to review these findings, and expediting renewable energy rulemaking for the Outer Continental Shelf. “To establish an orderly process that allows us to make wise decisions based on sound information, we need to set aside the Bush Administration’s midnight timetable for its OCS drilling plan and create our own timeline,” Salazar said. On Friday, January 16, its last business day in office, the Bush Administration proposed a new five year plan for offshore oil and gas leasing. The proposal was actually published in the Federal Register on January 21, the day after the new Administration took office. The deadline for public comment that the Bush Administration established - March 23, 2009 – does not provide enough time for public review or for wise decisions on behalf of taxpayers, the Secretary said. “The additional time we are providing will give states, stakeholders, and affected communities the opportunity to provide input on the future of our offshore areas,” he said. “The additional time will allow us to restore an orderly process to our offshore energy planning.” Salazar said this evaluation of the proposed plan also needed better information about what resources may be available in the offshore areas. “In the biggest area that the Bush Administration’s draft OCS plan proposes for oil and gas drilling - the Atlantic seaboard, from Maine to Florida - our data on available resources is very thin, and what little we have is twenty to thirty years old,” he said. “We shouldn’t make decisions to sell off taxpayer resources based on old information.” Salazar directed the United States Geological Survey, the Minerals Management Service, and other departmental scientists to assemble all the information available about the offshore resources – conventional and renewable – along with information about potential impacts. The report is due in 45 days. Based on that report, the Department will then determine what areas need more information and create a plan for gathering that information. The Department of the Interior oversees more than 1.7 billion acres on the Outer Continental Shelf – an area roughly three fourths of the size of the entire United States. “To gather the best ideas for how we accomplish the task of gathering the offshore information we need, I will convene four regional meetings in the 30 days after MMS and USGS publish their report,” Salazar said. “I will host one meeting in Alaska, one on the Pacific Coast, one on the Atlantic Coast, and one on the Gulf Coast.” Salazar will ask all interested parties for their recommendations on how to move ahead with a comprehensive offshore energy plan. The Secretary also will build a framework for offshore renewable energy development, so that the Department can incorporate the significant potential for wind, wave, and ocean current energy into its offshore energy strategy. “The Bush Administration was so intent on opening new areas for oil and gas offshore that it torpedoed offshore renewable energy efforts,” Salazar said. As a senator, Salazar helped to craft and pass the Energy Policy Act of 2005 which required Interior to move quickly and issue, within 9 months, rules and regulations to guide the development of offshore energy resources, such as wind, wave, and tidal power. It took three years for the Bush Administration to prepare a proposed rule for offshore renewable energy development. They left office without putting any final regulations in place because it was not their priority, Salazar said, notwithstanding the requirement of the law. “I intend to issue a final rulemaking for offshore renewables in the coming months, so that potential developers know the rules of the road,” Salazar said. “This rulemaking will allow us to move from the ‘oil and gas only’ approach of the previous Administration to the comprehensive energy plan that we need.” “We need a new, comprehensive energy plan that takes us to the new energy frontier and secures our energy independence,” Salazar said. “We must embrace President Obama’s vision of energy independence for the sake of our national security, our economic security, and our environmental security.” By adding the 180 day extension to the original 60-day period, interested parties will have had a total of 240 days (8 months) to comment on the proposed plan. The current comment period opened on January 21, 2009.

Salazar Comments on Stimulus Plan

http://www.doi.gov/news/09_News_Releases/030509.html

From the Department of the Interior:

March 4, 2009

Secretary Salazar: Recovery Plan to Create Jobs, Stimulate Economic Activity in Indian Country

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Speaking to a summit of American Indian leaders, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today highlighted more than $2 billion in President Obama’s economic recovery package to create jobs and economic opportunity in Indian Country.

“The challenges we face as a nation are not new to Indian Country,” Salazar told a Tribal Nations Legislative Summit of the National Congress of American Indians. “But President Obama’s recovery package will provide significant investments in Indian Country which can play an important role in helping to stand-up tribal economies.”

Recovery funds to be distributed through the Department of the Interior include $450 million to fix and build roads, repair and construct schools, strengthen detention centers in Indian Country; and another $50 million for housing improvements, workforce training programs, and economic development loans.

Other non-Interior funding in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 for Indian Country includes $510 million in Native American Housing Block Grants from the Department of Housing and Urban Development; $310 million for roads, through the Federal Highway Administration; and $500 million for health information technology and facility construction and health services from the Department of Health and Human Services. Additional stimulus funding is included under the Department of Justice and other federal agencies.

Commenting on the recent Supreme Court decision in Carcieri v. Salazar, the Secretary said he was “troubled” by the ruling that only Indian tribes that were formally recognized in 1934 could have land taken into trust for them by the Department of the Interior. Since the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act, Interior has added about eight million acres of land to the trust for various tribes, including some that were not federally recognized in 1934. Salazar pledged to continue the program while examining all options to resolve the land-into-trust issue raised by the court decision.

Later, Salazar spoke to the Council of Energy Resource Tribes summit on Native energy development. One of the greatest opportunities for economic development for tribes can be the development of alternative energy sources, Salazar said. Indian lands have major resources for renewable energy as well as rich sources of conventional fossil fuels.

“Indian country offers some of the premier wind energy sites in the United States,” the Secretary noted. “I look forward to exploring with tribes the potential for wind, geothermal, biomass and solar energy development that exists on those lands.”

The Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development has identified 77 reservations that possess commercial-scale wind resources and the ability to support viable wind-based economies. Forty of these are in states that enacted a Renewable Portfolio Standard requiring utilities to purchase a percentage of their power from renewable sources.

Budget Proposed for 2010

http://www.doi.gov/news/09_News_Releases/022609b.html

From the Department of the Interior

Feb. 26, 2009

President Recommends $12 Billion for Interior in Fiscal Year 2010 Budget Proposal

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The President’s 2010 Budget includes $12 billion for the Department of the Interior to undertake initiatives to promote energy security with a focus on clean renewable sources and strategies to address climate change, protect and preserve America’s national parks and public lands, strengthen Native American communities, enhance outdoor opportunities for young people, and conserve wetlands and wildlife habitat.

“President Obama has laid out a fiscally responsible blueprint for 2010,” Secretary Salazar said. “He has made tough choices, underscored his priorities and stressed the need for federal agencies to carry out their missions with transparency and accountability to the American taxpayer.”

Highlights of the proposed funding for Interior include the following:

• Invests more than $50 million to promote renewable energy projects on Federal lands and waters.
• Assists state and federal land management agencies with more than $130 million in additional funding to monitor, adaptively manage and assess the impacts of climate change on the Nation’s lands, fish and wildlife.
• Protects national parks with $100 million in additional funds to operate and maintain park facilities and resources and $25 million to leverage private donations for park projects.
• Conserves new federal and state lands and protects endangered species with appropriations of about $420 million from the Land and Water Conservation Fund for Interior and the U.S. Forest Service, with annual increases to reach full funding of $900 million by 2014.
• Creates educational and job opportunities for young people through expanded environmental education activities and new programs to encourage them to hunt and fish responsibly.
• Strengthens Native American communities through an increase of more than $100 million for enhanced law enforcement and education.
• Anticipates future costs for catastrophic wildfires with a new contingent funding reserve of $75 million for the Department of the Interior.
• Encourages responsible development of oil and gas resources and closes loopholes that have given oil companies excessive royalty relief for offshore leases.

More information on the President’s FY2010 Budget for the Department of the Interior is online at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/

New Round of Leases Offered

http://www.doi.gov/news/09_News_Releases/022509b.html

From the Department of the Interior

Feb. 25, 2009

Secretary Salazar to Offer a New Round of Oil Shale Research, Development and Demonstration Leases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Department of the Interior will offer a second round of research, development, and demonstration leases for oil shale in Colorado and Utah and withdraw the previous administration’s proposal for expanded RD&D leases, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced today.

“We need to push forward aggressively with research, development and demonstration of oil shale technologies to see if we can find a safe and economically viable way to unlock these resources on a commercial scale. The research, development, and demonstration leases we will offer can help answer critical questions about oil shale, including about the viability of emerging technologies on a commercial scale, how much water and power would be required, and what impact commercial development would have on land, water, wildlife, and communities.”

The Department has submitted a notice that will appear in the Federal Register on Friday, Feb. 27, 2009 that will ask industry, local communities, states, and stakeholders for their advice on what the terms and conditions of the second round of RD&D leases should be. That comment period will be open for 90 days.

“Following that, the Department will move ahead with a solicitation for RD&D leases, based on sound policy and public input,” Salazar said. “This will help us restore order to a process that, under the previous Administration, was turned upside down. We look forward to hearing from the public, industry, and local communities as we move toward offering a second round of research, development, and demonstration leases.”

Salazar said he was withdrawing the previous Administration’s solicitation on RD&D leases because it included several flaws, including locking in low royalty rates that would shortchange taxpayers. “The previous Administration offered their RD&D oil shale leases just days before leaving office, made the parcels four times the size of the current six RD&D leases, and then locked in low royalty rates and a premature regulatory framework for those leases,” the Secretary said. “If oil shale technology proves to be viable on a commercial scale, taxpayers should get a fair rate of return from their resource.”

As a U.S. Senator, Salazar helped author the provision in the 2005 Energy Policy Act that created the current RD&D leasing program, under which Interior’s Bureau of Land Management offered six 160 acre parcels for companies to do research and development of oil shale technologies.