DEBRA HAALAND

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland is facing criticism from political allies after the Biden administration approved a contentious oil drilling project in Alaska.

The Biden administration’s approval this week of the biggest oil drilling project in Alaska in decades promises to widen a rift among Alaska Natives.

Dozens of bison from a mountain park outside Denver have been transferred to several tribes from across the Great Plains.

A social media campaign is urging President Joe Biden to reject an oil development project on Alaska's North Slope.

Navajo students at a government school in New Mexico have been charged with dreaming big now that Congress has approved more than $90 million to replace the crumbling campus.

The Biden administration said Wednesday it is considering the first-ever lease sale for offshore wind energy in the Gulf of Mexico, a key part of a push to deploy 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030 to help fight climate change.

The Biden administration plans changes in federal regulations to encourage voluntary conservation projects on private land, partly by shielding owners from punishment if their actions kill or harm small numbers of imperiled species.

The Biden administration on Thursday said 15 Native American tribes will get a total of $580 million this year to fund settlements that ensure access to water that's legally theirs.

The Biden administration is temporarily delaying legal protections for two imperiled species after getting pushback from congressional Republicans.

Native American boarding school survivors of abuse and their descendants shared memories and tears in Arizona on U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland's yearlong “Road to Healing” initiative.

A company's plan to mine minerals just outside the famed Okefenokee Swamp and its federally protected wildlife refuge is a big step closer to being approved by regulators in Georgia.

The U.S. Department of the Interior has renamed five places in California, North Dakota, Tennessee and Texas that previously included a racist term for a Native American woman.

A member of President Joe Biden's Cabinet is urging Georgia officials to deny permits for a proposed mine near the edge of the famed Okefenokee Swamp and its vast wildlife refuge.

"This historic nature of my confirmation is not lost on me, but I will say it's not about me. That feeling of promise is shared by other Indigenous people who spoke with CBS News about the significance of Haaland's confirmation. The Pueblos' devotion to their culture has not shielded them from the tragedies Native Americans have suffered over the centuries. Haaland's confirmation, Cajete believes, "gives her the power to be able to right some very deep wrongs to Native tribes." It employed much of the reservation's population, moving Native Americans away from traditional farming and ranching jobs while stimulating the Pueblo economy.

"This historic nature of my confirmation is not lost on me, but I will say it's not about me. That feeling of promise is shared by other Indigenous people who spoke with CBS News about the significance of Haaland's confirmation. The Pueblos' devotion to their culture has not shielded them from the tragedies Native Americans have suffered over the centuries. Haaland's confirmation, Cajete believes, "gives her the power to be able to right some very deep wrongs to Native tribes." It employed much of the reservation's population, moving Native Americans away from traditional farming and ranching jobs while stimulating the Pueblo economy.

Seventy of the nation's mayors have endorsed a campaign dedicated to conserving 30% of America's lands, waters and oceans by 2030, an effort dubbed the 30x30 initiative. Montana Senator Steve Daines said the conservation effort "can create challenges" for ranchers and grazing authorization. Wilmot argued that Helena's majestic landscapes and dependence on tourism made deciding to support "30x30" a "no brainer." Middleton added that not since President Richard Nixon has there been a broad, White House-led conservation effort in the U.S. Jim Brainard, mayor of Carmel, Indiana, is one of four Republican mayors to sign on to the 30x30 commitment.

Washington — The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee advanced Congresswoman Deb Haaland's nomination to be Interior Secretary by a vote of 11 to 9 on Thursday, bringing her one step closer to confirmation by the full Senate. Senator Lisa Murkowski was the sole Republican to vote to advance Haaland's nomination, and said that she would vote to confirm Haaland on the Senate floor. Her nomination has also received support from Republican Senator Susan Collins and Energy Committee Chair Joe Manchin, a moderate Democrat, all but guaranteeing her confirmation. In remarks announcing her support for Haaland, Murkowski said she had listened to her constituents in Alaska about their thoughts on Haaland's nomination. Collins announced her support for Haaland's nomination on Wednesday.

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., speaks during a Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources hearing on the nomination of Rep. Debra Haaland, D-N.M., to be Secretary of the Interior on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2021. Manchin, a moderate from West Virginia, had been publicly undecided through two days of hearings on Haaland's nomination by President Joe Biden. By contrast, Manchin said Haaland had earned his vote, despite disagreements over drilling on federal lands and the Keystone XL oil pipeline. Ad“I believe Deb Haaland will be a secretary of the Interior for every American and will vote to confirm her,'' Manchin said in a statement. Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy, a Republican who is not on the energy panel, called Haaland “a neo-socialist, left-of-Lenin whack job.''

Haaland highlighted her bipartisan record in the House during her confirmation hearings, and Republican Congressman Don Young introduced her to the panel. Those are two different things, I recognize that," Haaland said during her second day of confirmation hearings on Wednesday. "I believe Deb Haaland will be a Secretary of the Interior for every American and will vote to confirm her. Manchin's support for Haaland contrasts with his opposition to Tanden, another one of Mr. Biden's nominees who is generally considered to be more progressive. During her confirmation hearings this week, Haaland was quizzed on a tweet from October 2020 where she said that Republicans don't believe in science.

An Interior Department watchdog office will investigate law enforcement and security forces violent clearing of protesters from a square in front of the White House earlier this month. Greenblatt agreed late last week, telling the lawmakers that Interior Secretary David Bernhardt had also asked for the review. Authorities have given at times conflicting accounts about who oversaw and ordered the forceful routing of protesters from Lafayette Square. Bernhardt, the interior secretary, has said violent attacks by the crowd warranted clearing the protesters. Reporters and other witnesses and Democratic lawmakers say they saw little sign of that scale of violence by the crowd.

The violent clearing of demonstrators from the nation's premier protest space in front of the White House is spotlighting a tiny federal watch force created by George Washington. Democratic lawmakers want answers about the clubbing, punching and other force deployed by some Park Police in routing protesters from the front of the White House on Monday. The First Amendment rights to free speech, peaceful assembly, and free press are the building blocks of all other rights, the three lawmakers said. The three lawmakers letter, sent Monday, asks Interiors internal watchdog whether the force used by Park Police was lawful and in line with rules, policies and training standards for the force. Lawmakers also asked the investigators to determine who was giving orders to the Interior Department in the squares clearing.