Deb Haaland

The Interior Department is spending around $40 million in tribal communities to plug old oil and gas wells that have caused serious pollution.

As a part of the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative, the U.S. Department of the Interior and the National Endowment for the Humanities will digitize records that document the experiences of those who survived Indian boarding schools and their descendants. $4 million from the NEH will also support a related oral history project.

The goal of the Secretary’s Tribal Advisory Committee is to get input from tribal leaders on Department of the Interior issues impacting Indigenous communities before policy is made.

Daniel Tom was the target of racism and bullying growing up in Mesa, Ariz. Decades later here in the small mountain town of Buena Vista in south-central Colorado, life is easier, quieter. Still, there are at least a few signs that make him feel unwelcome – actual signs that read “Chinaman Gulch.”

Thursday marks Canada's first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation – a day meant to acknowledge the enduring impacts that residential schools had on Indigenous people.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland faced lawmakers on Capitol Hill Tuesday as she advocated for an $18 billion budget increase for her department next year. The money would go towards advancing renewable energy projects, expanding wildland fire programs and boosting public safety on reservations.

Another dry year has left the waterway that supplies 40 million people in the Southwest parched. A prolonged 21-year warming and drying trend is pushing the nation’s two largest reservoirs to record lows. For the first time this summer, the federal government will declare a shortage.

Representatives praised budget increases to the Bureau of Indian Affairs and efforts to address the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. But some wanted more funding for water infrastructure and others questioned Biden's plans on mining and fossil fuel production.

The Biden administration will restore the White House Council on Native American Affairs, an interagency initiative that coordinates federal services and policies that impact tribal nations. The council was first launched under former President Obama, but went dark for most of the Trump years.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland met with tribal and Utah state leaders Wednesday in San Juan County to talk about Bears Ears National Monument. She’s visiting southern Utah to meet with stakeholders before issuing a recommendation on the monuments’ fate.