Department Of The Interior

Latest Stories

An ‘America First’ energy policy holds 3 powerful benefits

By Interior Secretary Ryan K. Zinke

Remote Alaskan villages, including King Cove, rely on air travel for access to major hospitals. (Associated Press/File)

Ryan Zinke revives Alaska’s King Cove road project killed under Obama

By Ben Wolfgang - The Washington Times

FILE - In this Jan. 17, 2017, file photo, Interior Secretary-nominee, Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont. testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington. Zinke appears headed toward confirmation as the nation’s next interior secretary, responsible for more than 400 million acres of public land, mostly in the West. A vote in the Senate is expected to happen on March 1. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Former Montana Rep. Zinke takes helm of Interior Department

By MATTHEW DALY - Associated Press

FILE - In this Nov. 15, 2016, file photo, a mechanized shovel loads coal from an 80-feet thick seam into a haul truck at Cloud Peak Energy's Spring Creek mine near Decker, Mont. Coal from the mine is shipped to power plants for generating electricity. The Interior Department has put on hold changes to how it values coal extracted from public lands after mining companies sued in federal court to challenge the rules. Interior officials say in a Federal Register announcement due to be published Monday, Feb. 27, 2017, that current rules will remain in place pending a court decision. The changes, crafted under the administration of President Barack Obama, were aimed at ensuring companies don't shortchange taxpayers on coal sales to Asia and other markets. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown, File)

Trump administration blocks changes on coal mining royalties

By MATTHEW BROWN - Associated Press

New Mexico governor calls for methane rule to be repealed

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN - Associated Press

Steve Mnuchin has seen his confirmation for Treasury Secretary stalled due to tactics led by Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer and other members of the Democratic Party. (Associated Press)

Democrats stall Trump Cabinet picks with boycott, panel shutdown

By Tom Howell Jr. - The Washington Times

National Park Service tweeting again after suspension

By JONATHAN LEMIRE and MATTHEW DALY - Associated Press

Obama rushes out 11th-hour regulations targeting coal mining

By Ben Wolfgang - The Washington Times

FILE - In this March 23, 2010, file photo, installers from California Green Design install solar electrical panels on the roof of a home in Glendale, Calif. The Obama administration is boosting the development of solar and wind energy on public lands. A final rule announced by the Interior Department on Thursday, Nov. 10, 2016, would create a new leasing program on public lands and encourage development in areas where it would have fewer effects on the environment. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File)

Rule would boost solar and wind energy on public lands

By MARY CLARE JALONICK and MATTHEW DALY - Associated Press

$U.S. District Court Judge Scott Skavdahl ruled late Tuesday that the Interior Department exceeded its authority with its 2015 rule governing hydraulic fracturing, handing another defeat to fracking foes. (Associated Press)$

Anti-fracking movement reeling as ‘scare tactics’ fail to resonate

By Valerie Richardson - The Washington Times

People kayak in the Animas River near Durango, Colo., in water colored with millions of gallons of mine waste into Cement Creek, which flows into the Animas River, on Aug. 6, 2015. (Jerry McBride/The Durango Herald via AP) **FILE**

Emails show peer reviewer ‘not happy’ with Interior Dept.’s report on Gold King Mine spill

By Valerie Richardson - The Washington Times

Interior Sally Jewell testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2015, before the House Natural Resources Oversight Committee hearing on the Animas River Spill in Colorado. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Sally Jewell, Interior Secretary, unaware of any punishments for EPA toxic mine spill

By Valerie Richardson - The Washington Times

FILE - This Sept. 30, 2014 file photo shows the Colstrip Steam Electric Station operated by Talen Energy in southeastern Montana. Coal companies and their supporters scored a courtroom victory with a U.S. Supreme Court decision that said the Obama administration failed to take potential costs into account when it decided to regulate toxic emissions from many power plants, Monday, June 29, 2015. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown, File)

Obama targets coal industry with new water regulations

By Ben Wolfgang - The Washington Times

In this March 31, 2015, photo, a supply vessel crosses an oil sheen drifting from the site of the former Taylor Energy oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Louisiana. Capitol Hill lawmakers from Louisiana have intervened on behalf of Taylor Energy Company that has failed to stop a decade-old oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico but lobbied for a refund of money reserved for spill containment work, according to letters obtained by The Associated Press through public records requests. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File

Lawmakers back company responsible for decade-old Gulf leak

By Eric Tucker and Michael Kunzelman - Associated Press

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell speaks in Anchorage, Alaska, on Feb. 17, 2015. (Associated Press) **FILE**

Sally Jewell rebuffs Colorado pleas to appeal Colowyo coal mine decision

By Valerie Richardson - The Washington Times

This April 18, 2008, file photo provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service shows a gray wolf. (AP Photo/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Gary Kramer, File)

Don Young, Alaska Republican: Best way to solve homeless problem is let wolves run free

By Kellan Howell - The Washington Times

Murkowski

Obama’s Alaska plans spark Republican ire

By Ben Wolfgang - The Washington Times

President Barack Obama is proposing to designate the vast majority of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as a wilderness area, including its potentially oil-rich coastal plain, drawing an angry response from top state elected officials who see it as a land grab by the federal government. (Associated Press)

Obama seeks bigger wilderness designation in Alaska refuge

By Becky Bohrer and Jim Kuhnhenn - Associated Press

Soldiers mount up on their Humvees as the sun rises in the Mohave Desert while they prepare for a live-fire training mission at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif. ** FILE **

Native Americans sue feds for siting solar plant on sacred lands

By Cheryl K. Chumley - The Washington Times

The Gunnison sage grouse's habitat falls across southwestern Colorado and eastern Utah, with 86 percent of the population in Colorado's Gunnison Basin. State officials argue that local efforts to boost the bird's numbers have been succeeding without federal intervention. (Associated Press)

Sage grouse protection block gives Western developers win over environmentalists

By Valerie Richardson - The Washington Times