This Week, at Interior

Secretary Bernhardt this week visited New York City, meeting with National Park Service employees and law enforcement officials before making site inspections at Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. The National Park Service has billions of dollars in deferred maintenance, and the Secretary discussed the Administration's legislative solution to address these needs, so future generations can enjoy America’s greatest landmarks and icons.

The Secretary then travelled to Pearl Harbor Hawaii, to take part in this weekend’s annual Pearl Harbor Day ceremonies. The reopening of the USS Arizona Memorial provides for a safe and enhanced visit to Pearl Harbor, allowing visitors to more closely understand the story and pay their respects to the men aboard the sunken battleship. The completed 2.1 million dollar project improves the dock’s anchoring system and addresses a critical infrastructure need at the park. More than 24-hundred Americans lost their lives in the December 7th, 1941 Japanese attack, which ushered America into World War II.

President Trump has signed an Executive Order establishing the Missing and Murdered American Indians and Alaska Native Task Force to tackle the disproportionately high rates of endemic drug abuse, violence, and crime in tribal communities. The Secretary will co-chair the task force along with Attorney General Bill Barr. Other top officials on the task force will include Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Tara Sweeney, and Charles Addington, Director of the Office of Justice Services within the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

(Countdown, three, two, one, music)

The holiday season got off to its official start this week in the Nation’s Capital, with the lighting of the National Christmas Tree on the Ellipse in front of the White House. The season of lights continues on December 22nd, with the lighting of the National Menorah for Hanukkah. Check out nps.gov.

And our social media picture of the week, Wisdom the albatross, the miracle of Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. Wisdom is at least 69-years old, and she’s known the world over as a symbol of hope for all species that depend upon the health of the ocean to survive. Despite her age Wisdom laid an egg last year. Is another egg in the future? Time will tell.

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That’s This Week, at Interior