The subject category for the Department of the Interior (designated FG 19) consists of approximately two and one-half cubic feet of correspondence, memoranda, telegrams, annual reports, routing slips, handwritten notes, maps and site plans, news clippings, and press releases. File folders with the "executive" prefix (EX) refer to correspondence among White House staff, Cabinet officers and Cabinet department personnel, members of Congress, state and local government officials, representatives of foreign governments or international organizations, and other prominent individuals. The "general" prefix (GEN) designates correspondence between government officials, members of Congress and their constituents, or private persons or organizations. Folders with the suffix "/A" (for Appointments) deals with nominations, confirmation hearings, and appointments of Interior Department officials.
Principal correspondents in FG 19 include the President and White House staff members such as Peter Flanigan, John Ehrlichman, Ken Cole, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, John Price, John R. Brown, and John C. Whitaker (later Under Secretary of the Interior). Interior Department officials appearing in these documents include Secretaries Walter J. Hickel and his successor, Rogers C. B. Morton; Under Secretary William T. Reed; Commissioner for Indian Affairs Louis Bruce; and Assistant Secretary for Mineral Resources Hollis M. Dole. Other principle correspondents include Representatives Julia Butler Hansen, Wayne Aspinall, and John Saylor and Senators Jennings Randolph, Robert Packwood, Stuart Symington, and Robert C. Byrd.
Specific issues addressed in the collection include the leasing of outer continental shelf oil and gas rights, oil spills in the Santa Barbara Channel, the need for federal funding for water treatment facilities, reform of government programs for Indians, park acquisitions in urban areas, reclamation of mining lands, the regulation of the mining industry, the ownership of water resources, funding for pilot sea water desalinization plants, exploitation of coal reserves, rate structures for federally owned regional utilities, creation of a "National Power Grid", development of alternate energy resources, and management of oil imports.
Information related to the Department of the Interior can also be found in subject categories IN (Indian Affairs), NR (Natural Resources), PA (Parks), and RA (Real Property). The Staff Member and Office File for the President's Advisory Council on Executive Reorganization (the Ash Council) will have more information on proposals for reorganizing the Department.
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