Department Of Interior Research Articles

Large-scale avian influenza surveillance in wild birds throughout the United States.

Avian influenza is a viral disease that primarily infects wild and domestic birds, but it also can be transmitted to a variety of mammals. In 2006, the United States of America Departments of Agriculture and Interior designed a large-scale, interagency surveillance effort that sought to determine if highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses were present in wild bird populations within the United States of America. This program, combined with the Canadian and Mexican surveillance programs, represented the largest, coordinated wildlife disease surveillance program ever implemented. Here we analyze data from 197,885 samples that were collected from over 200 wild bird species. While the initial motivation for surveillance focused on highly pathogenic avian influenza, the scale of the data provided unprecedented information on the ecology of avian influenza viruses in the United States, avian influenza virus host associations, and avian influenza prevalence in wild birds over time. Ultimately, significant advances in our knowledge of avian influenza will depend on both large-scale surveillance efforts and on focused research studies.

Environmental Contaminants in Coal Slurry Intended for Underground Injection in the State of West Virginia

AbstractWaste from coal cleaning processes includes coarse size fractions (i.e., coarse refuse) and small particles (i.e., fine refuse). The aqueous suspension of fine refuse, referred to as coal slurry, frequently contains potentially toxic substances, including hydrocarbons, heavy metals, and coal cleaning chemicals. Disposal of coal slurry using underground injection has raised environmental concerns because it may lead to contamination of groundwater and water supplies. In the present study, liquid and solid fractions of coal slurries collected from five underground injection sites and one coal preparation site in West Virginia (WV) were analyzed for a suite of 177 organic and inorganic constituents. The original data presented in this article were all collected by the WV Department of Environmental Protection, Office of Mining and Reclamation, and the U.S. Department of Interior, Office of Surface Mining, with input from the WV Department of Health and Human Resources. Several metals of health and en...

Bison: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

No species in North America today more powerfully represents the United States than the plains bison (popularly called “buffalo”); preserving Bison bison bison Linnaeus, and its genetic integrity, is important to the nation. This paper first examines the bison's prehistory, migrations to North America, relationship with North American Native American cultures, and events leading to the nineteenth century near-extinction. It then discusses early conservation successes, including the work of individuals and organizations that made this possible. This paper focuses on mainly the prospects for bison protection today in the face of strong challenges such as bison-cattle (Bos Taurus Bojanus) interbreeding and the threat of bison genomic extinction. This work is being carried out by bison protection organizations and a Department of the Interior (DOI) bison working group. Their goals include finding and establishing connected habitats wherein buffalo can roam and migrate as they did historically across broad ranges. Maintaining genetic integrity and creating safe habitats for bison herds can lead to long-term viability.

Interior Secretary Highlights Key Trends, Including Climate Change and Fiscal Constraint

Climate change is “the defining issue of our time,” Department of the Interior (DOI) Secretary Sally Jewell said during her 18 June keynote addess at the AGU Science Policy Conference in Washington, D. C. The United States has to “lead by example. We can't be the largest economy in the world and the second largest producer of carbon in the world”—after China—“and not take care of our own problems first to demonstrate to the world what needs to be done,” she said.

Use of ship traffic density from Automatic Identification System (AIS) and Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS) in marine spatial planning: a case study in New England coast, USA

Analyzing current and anticipated uses of ocean and coastal areas based on scientific understanding and information is quite critical to achieve a successful Marine Spatial Planning (MSP). One of key elements in ocean and coastal use is navigation and thus vessel traffic density should be included as part of MSP. One of emerging techniques to quantify ship traffic density is to analyze Automatic Identification System (AIS) and Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) data for a designated area. This study presents a case study conducted in New England area, USA, where the ship traffic density was estimated by analyzing AIS/VMS data. The results of ship traffic density were used in MSP (e.g., Northeast Ocean Data Portal), which were later used by one of stake holders, U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management when they issued wind lease blocks in outer continental shelf off Massachusetts.

Oil Spill Preparedness & Response Compliance with the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and Reducing Action Agency Exposure to Future Litigation

The Coast Guard, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Interior's U.S. Fish & Wildlife Services (FWS), and the National Oceanographic & Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) have partnered since 2001 through the Interagency Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Endangered Species Act (ESA) Section 7 consultations. Under the authority of the National Contingency Plan, coastal and inland zone area committees, Coast Guard FOSCs & EPA OSCs fill a vital role in determining if certain proposed actions affect listed threatened and endangered (T&E) species or designated critical habitats (CH) and have a responsibility to initiate and coordinate either an informal, emergency, or formal consultation between the FWS & NFMS, also known as the “Services.” One of the best practices learned by the Coast Guard and EPA after the recent lawsuit and subsequent 2013 settlement with the Center for Biological Diversity on the use of pre-authorized use of dispersants in California is that Coast Guard FOSCs and EPA OSCs in concert with their respective area committees should make all efforts to engage the Services in the consultation process when there is a possibility of an action that could affect T&E species or designated CH. The norm in the past has been to delay the consultation process until the emergency response phase, often necessitating an emergency consultation during an actual spill or release that could affect T&E species or designated CHs. In the future, area committees, FOSCs, and OSCs at the start of each area contingency plan's quadrennial review and update, should engage the consultation evaluation process. This poster is about the ESA Section 7 consultation process to proactively mitigate and avoid potentially adverse affects to ESA-listed species and designated CH using the consultation process associated with complying with the Act, avoiding jeopardy, and reducing future Coast Guard and EPA exposure to future litigation.

USGS Energy Resources Program

The Energy Resources Program of the USGS is responsible for assessing the energy resource potential of the Nation and the world (exclusive of Federal offshore waters) and the environmental and health impacts of energy production and use. In order to accomplish this mission, the Energy Resources Program has four main objectives: (1) to assess national and global resources (oil, gas, coal, coalbed methane, and methane hydrates); (2) to understand the geologic framework and processes of energy resources; (3) to evalute the environmental and economic impact of developing and using those resources, and (4) to deliver energy resource information to land and resource managers, energy policy makers, other scientists, academia, private industry, environmental groups, and other non-governmental organizations. The USGS Energy Resources Program is unique in comparison to other energy-related federal agencies. The Department of Agriculture Forest Service is responsible for land management; the Department of Energy is responsible for technology development as well as nuclear and renewable energy; the Energy Information Administration delivers energy reserve statistics. Within the Department of Interior, the Bureau of Land Management is responsible for leasing federal solid and liquid minerals and for land management activities; the Minerals Management Service is responsible for royalty management of federal resources and for federal offshore leasing; and the USGS Energy Resources Program assesses the remaining undiscovered energy resources, conducts research on the framework and occurrence of energy resources, and studies the effects of development and use of energy resources.

Tribe at a Crossroads: The Navajo Nation Purchases a Coal Mine

Tribe at a Crossroads: The Navajo Nation Purchases a Coal Mine

Crossing Borders: One World, Global Health

Crossing Borders: One World, Global Health

The Administrative Presidency and Public Lands Regulatory Change

DOI 10.1515/cjpp-2013-0045 Calif. J. Politics Policy 2014; 6(1): 103–125 Charles Davis* and Zachary Wurtzebach The Administrative Presidency and Public Lands Regulatory Change Abstract: This research focuses on the efforts taken by recent Presidents to alter the direction of several federal land policies administered by Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Forest Service through rulemaking processes. Of par- ticular concern here are three programs – the hardrock mining program under BLM’s jurisdiction, the grazing program managed by both agencies, and the Forest Service’s handling of the roadless area policy. An examination of these regulations reveals far reaching differences when compared with earlier versions of these rules developed under President Clinton. From a substantive policy per- spective, all three regulations were designed to increase natural resource produc- tion under Bush while the rules initiated by Clinton and Obama placed greater emphasis on environmental conservation. Thus, Presidents will occasionally stretch the boundaries of statutory interpretation to maximize regulatory policy impact. However, this strategy is also accompanied by a degree of political risk since groups opposed to new rules may react by mounting legal challenges in the federal courts. Keywords: administrative presidency; natural resources; public lands; regulation. *Corresponding author: Charles Davis, Political Science, Colorado State University, B351 Clark Bldg, Fort Collins, CO 80525, USA; and 6513 Fossil Crest, Fort Collins, CO 80525, USA, e-mail: charles.davis@colostate.edu Zachary Wurtzebach: Forest and Rangeland Stewardship, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA 1 Introduction America’s federal lands covers over 700 million acres of mountains, prairies, rangelands, swamps, and deserts throughout the US. Much of the public land acreage is administered by two agencies, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) located within the US Department of Interior and the Forest Service (USFS) located within the US Department of Agriculture. Each agency has adopted

Does Federal Aid to States Aid the States?

AbstractUsing data from 1977 to 2009, we explore whether the agency issuing federal aid to states influences the rate of state economic growth. We find that agencies' housing poverty alleviation programs, such as the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Labor, have negative effects. The Department of Commerce and the Department of Interior have consistent positive effects, although this last effect is due to inordinately disproportionate spending in the state of Wyoming. Overall growth effects are relatively modest, suggesting that potential future cuts to federal discretionary spending may not be as damaging as feared.

Erodibility of low‐compaction steep‐sloped reclaimed surface mine lands in the southern Appalachian region, USA

AbstractThe use of loose spoils on steep slopes for surface coal mining reclamation sites has been promoted by the US Department of Interior, Office of Surface Mining for the establishment of native forest, as prescribed by the Forest Reclamation Approach (FRA). Although low‐compaction spoils improve tree survival and growth, erodibility on steep slopes was suspected to increase. This study quantified a combined KC factor (combining the effects of the soil erodibility K factor and cover management C) for low compaction, steep‐sloped (>20°) reclaimed mine lands in the Appalachian region, USA. The combined KC factor was used because standard Unit Plot conditions required to separate these factors, per Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) experimental protocols, were not followed explicitly. Three active coal mining sites in the Appalachian region of East Tennessee, each containing four replicate field plots, were monitored for rainfall and sediment yields during a 14‐month period beginning June 2009. Average cumulative erosivity for the study sites during the monitoring period was measured as 5248.9 MJ·mm·ha−1·h−1. The KC ranged between 0.001 and 0.05 t·ha·h·ha−1·MJ−1·mm−1, with the highest values occurring immediately following reclamation site construction as rills developed (June – August 2009). The KC for two study sites with about an 18–20 mm spoil D84 were above 0.01 t·ha·h·ha−1·MJ−1·mm−1 during rill development, and below 0.003 t·ha·h·ha−1·MJ−1·mm−1 after August 2009 for the post‐rill development period. The KC values for one site with a 40 mm spoil D84 were never above 0.008 t·ha·h·ha−1·MJ−1·mm−1 and also on average were lower, being more similar to the other two sites after the rill development period. Based on an initial KC factor (Ke) measured during the first few storm events, the average C factor (Ce) was estimated as 0.58 for the rill development period and 0.13 for the post‐rill development period. It appears that larger size fractions of spoils influence KC and Ce factors on low‐compaction steep slopes reclamation sites. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Concerning Offshore Geologic Storage of Carbon Dioxide in the U.S.A.

Abstract The Gulf Coast Carbon Center (GCCC) at the Bureau of Economic Geology is leading a team of scientists, engineers, and legal experts to support the U.S. Department of Interior (DOI), Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) in formulating best management practices for subseabed geologic storage (GS) of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). The OCS is that portion of the U.S. continental shelf lying seaward of State territorial waters and within the U.S. exclusive economic zone. Here we discuss reasons for offshore GS of CO 2 , with focus on U.S., international policy and experience, existing U.S. policy and regulations, and considerations for managing risk, protecting the environment, and enhancing operation of CO 2 GS on the OCS. Disclaimer: The statements within this paper and associated poster do not necessarily reflect the views or policy of the United States Federal Government including DOI, BOEM, and BSEE.

戦災都市土地利用計画設定標準の検討過程に対する考察

This research presents one part of the investigation stage for land use planning at the War Damage Reconstruction Institute, which proposed planning standards for each municipality. This paper analyzed preliminary draft of zoning made by Department of Interior and practical examination of land use planning by temporary employee. The results are given follows;1) The War Damage Reconstruction basic policy showed reconstruction plan based on a land use planning, but first draft of the land use planning standards focused on reconsideration of zoning. In the background of this deliberation, this draft had positioning as proposal towards revision of the building regulation.2) This draft came under review to the standards for land use planning match the War Damage Reconstruction basic policy. In this process, practical land use plan in the War Damage city proposed by temporary employee.3) Finally land use planning standards was changed as follows, district in the residential area become diversified. The particular area was re-arranged substantively. The implications of urbanization control of a green area were strengthened.

Reports from the Field: American Indian Self-determination in Education and the Department of Interior

In this Report from the Field, the author draws on over 60 years of experience in American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) education to examine and reflect on the exercise of AI/AN educational selfdetermination. Using two cases as examples — one involving the federally mandated closure of two key off-reservation boarding schools and the other, nearly 30 years later, involving implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 — the author critiques the processes by which self-determination has been "trumped" by non-Indian, noneducator Interior Department officials. Bureau of Indian Educationfunded schools, dormitories, and programs are cautioned to monitor Department of Interior initiatives regarding American Indian rights to self-determination in education.

USA commits to greater transparency with implementation of EITI

The US Department of Interior (DOI) is leading the effort to bring the United States into compliance with the international Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). The USA proposal would have DOI fully disclose payments received, by company, for rents, royalties and bonuses for energy production and extraction on federal lands. The USA application seeks voluntary data from the larger payors, to be reconciled with DOI's data by a third-party entity. In this article, the President and CEO of the Independent Petroleum Association of America describes the history of EITI, the implementation process, and the impact on independent oil and natural gas producers.

Using Science to Restore California's Bay-Delta

October 2013 San Francisco Estuary & Watershed Science: Science & Policy for the Delta Using Science to Restore California’s Bay-Delta Judith A. Layzer Associate Professor of Environmental Policy, Department of Urban Studies and Planning Massachusets Institute of Techniology Cambridge, MA 02139 jlayzer@mit.edu The State of California and the U.S. Department of Interior have committed to relying on science as a guide to both restoring the Bay–Delta ecosystem and deciding how much water can be exported from that system. In theory, upholding this commitment should be straightforward. In practice, however, figuring out how science can and should guide policymaking is challenging when the problem at hand is complex and multifaceted, and features a cast of savvy, powerful stakeholders with sharply dif- ferent interests. One reason is that participants in such controversies have long used debates over science as proxies for debates over values. The conflict over the Bay– Delta is no different; recently, for example, representatives of large-scale water users dismissed the suggestion that too much water is being exported from the Bay–Delta system, although more than three-quarters of the scientists surveyed by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) believe that excessive water withdrawals pose a problem (Anonymous 2013). To make progress in this situation, state and federal policymakers should take a series of bold steps. First, they should articulate a single, clear, overarching goal of ecologi- cal restoration for the Bay–Delta. Next, they should establish an adaptive process for soliciting scientific advice and adjusting management to ensure it is consistent with that goal. And finally, they should emphasize the translation of scientific research into compelling political stories that highlight both the intrinsic value of ecological restoration and its necessity for achieving other highly valued goals. My argument is rooted in the recognition that improvements in the scientific under- standing of a problem do not necessarily lead to “better” or more rational policies to address that problem (Layzer 2012). In fact, more science can actually exacerbate policy conflicts, particularly when a policy dispute features players with sharply dif- ferent values (Graham et al. 1988). In part, this is because additional science can reveal new sources of uncertainty, which advocates can exploit. But, more important,

Confessions of a Policy Analyst: Ethical Dilemmas Facing Economic Professionals in Government

From 1975 to 1993, the author worked as a federal career economist in the Office of Policy Analysis in the Office of the Secretary of the Interior. In this capacity, he was involved in many Interior Department policy discussions, and was often asked by top Interior officials to contribute both written and oral analyses of leading issues. This paper provides an autobiographical review of the author’s government experiences and policy impact over those years. It shows that in a politicized agency such as the Interior Department there is no well defined separation between the expert role of a policy analyst and the political and other “subjective” sides of Department workings. Policy analysts such as the author often helped political leadership to “frame” policy issues in both economic and political terms. They provided important institutional memory. They often also played an entrepreneurial role in suggesting new areas for policy investigation and potential policy change. The personal values of the policy analyst almost inevitably come importantly into play in these and other tasks -- as well as his or her expert knowledge. The paper explores, based on various personal case studies, how the significant role of personal values can raise ethical issues for the appropriate functioning of a policy analysis professional in a government setting.

Interior Department Suggests Improvements for Offshore Arctic Oil and Gas Drilling

Shell's “difficulties” during its 2012 program to drill offshore oil and natural gas exploration wells in the Alaskan Arctic Ocean “have raised serious questions regarding its ability to operate safely and responsibly in the challenging and unpredictable conditions offshore Alaska,” according to the report “Review of Shell's 2012 Alaska Offshore Oil and Gas Exploration Program,” issued by the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) on 8 March. Noting the company's lack of adequate preparation for drilling in the Arctic, its failure to deploy a specialized Arctic Containment System, and the grounding of the Kulluk drilling rig near Kodiak Island last December, the report recommends that Shell develop a comprehensive and integrated plan describing its future drilling program and related operations and that it commission a third‐party audit of its management systems, including its safety and environmental management systems program.

The Evaluation of Landscape in the First Selection of National Parks in Japan

The National Park System in Japan, which was established in 1931, has since given certain purposes and functions to National Parks according to the needs of the times. Similarly, the landscapes of designated National Parks have also changed with the times. The 12 National Parks designated in 1930s, a prewar era, were selected by a committee of specialists. This paper shows the selection process, using the documents of the Health and Medical Bureau of the Interior Department and certain minutes of related committees. The documents show us the evaluation of each candidate site on the basis of “the Selection Policy of National Parks” of the Department. Tsuyoshi Tamura, a key figure of the Bureau, evaluated landscapes from the viewpoint of natural science and looked upon what is spectacularly representative in terms of geomorphology and geology as the very landscapes suitable for National Parks. As a result, spectacular mountainous landscapes have since been mainly selected as National Parks in Japan.