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The Office of Hearings and Appeals within the Department of the Interior has announced the delay of an interim final rule's effective date. Originally set to take effect on February 10, 2025, it will now be effective on March 21, 2025. This decision aligns with a directive from President Trump's memo titled "Regulatory Freeze Pending Review," which advises delaying rules to allow further review. The delay was implemented without public comment due to exemptions allowing immediate action when feedback is impractical or contrary to public interest.

The U.S. Department of the Interior has updated its regulations related to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) to adjust civil penalties for inflation in compliance with the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015. These adjustments ensure the penalties maintain their deterrent effect and further policy objectives. The rule also updates the mailing address for the NAGPRA Program. The final rule takes effect on January 16, 2025, and applies to penalties assessed after this date, including for violations since November 2, 2015.

The Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs has announced that the class III gaming compact between the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe and the State of Nevada has been extended. The new expiration date for this agreement is February 23, 2027. Since this extension does not change any other terms of the compact, it does not need approval from the Secretary of the Interior. This extension takes effect on April 17, 2025.

The U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs has completed an inventory of human remains and funerary objects and identified a cultural connection with the Pueblo of Nambe in New Mexico. The remains are those of at least 11 Native American individuals, along with 157 associated objects, such as stone tools and ceramics. The repatriation of these items can occur on or after May 19, 2025, with requests being accepted from identified tribes or individuals showing cultural links. Competing claims will be resolved by the Bureau before any repatriation.

The U.S. Department of the Interior has issued final regulations revising the rules that implement Tribal Self-Governance as part of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act. This update was created through negotiations among Self-Governance and non-Self-Governance Tribes and the Department. The new regulations aim to give Tribes more control over certain federal programs and associated funding, reduce bureaucratic barriers, and better align these regulations with Tribal sovereignty and self-determination principles. These rules also establish procedures for future involvement and input from Tribal nations, along with setting standards for managing federal programs and responsibilities.

The Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) of the Department of the Interior is making changes to its regulations to improve the hearings and appeals process. These updates aim to make procedures more efficient, reflect changes in the law, and incorporate modern technology like electronic filing and case management systems. They are meant to help both the people involved in these cases and the department work more effectively, ensuring that decisions are reviewed quickly and fairly. The new regulations will be effective from February 10, 2025, and public comments on these changes can be submitted until March 11, 2025.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has announced the availability of the Record of Decision (ROD) and Approved Resource Management Plan Amendment (RMPA) for the Rough Hat Clark Solar Project in Clark County, Nevada. This project involves constructing a 400-megawatt solar power facility and a 700-megawatt battery energy storage system on BLM-managed land. The Department of the Interior has approved the BLM's decision to issue a right-of-way grant for the project, which includes changing the visual resource management classification of the area. The RMPA faced public protests and a Governor's review, but these processes were resolved without objections to the plan.

The Department of the Interior, through the Bureau of Indian Affairs, announced a decision related to land acquisitions under the Navajo-Hopi Land Dispute Settlement Act of 1996. The decision permits the Hopi Tribe to acquire and place in trust up to 500,000 acres of land in northern Arizona. The Hopi Tribe has already purchased over 161,000 acres of private land, and together with the state of Arizona, they have identified another 110,759.17 acres of state trust lands for acquisition. The Department of Justice has started the process of condemning these state trust lands to facilitate the transfer into trust for the Hopi Tribe.

The Department of the Interior has issued an order that partially revokes 11 Public Land Orders affecting approximately 9.7 million acres of public lands in Alaska. The affected lands were previously reserved for study and classification but are no longer needed for those purposes. These lands will be open for public land use and mining claims starting February 18, 2021, following existing laws and regulations. The decision aligns with recommendations from the Kobuk-Seward Peninsula Resource Management Plan, and previous Public Land Orders No. 6477 and 6559 will be superseded by this new order.

The Department of the Interior is changing its rules for buying land around reservoir areas. This new rule lets them use different kinds of ownership, like easements, instead of buying the land completely, especially for older reservoirs built before 1962. The rule aims to save money, reduce project completion time, and decrease conflicts with landowners. If there are no strong objections by March 17, 2025, the rule will take effect on April 16, 2025.