Short notice Web Cast National Ocean Policy 7 am Pacific: Steelheader.net- Steelhead, Salmon and trout fishing

If you'd like an opportunity to hear it live from your computer instead of reading later just check this out:

This is taking place tomorrow at 7am Pacific time. It is our future. Near future.

If you can take the time to be at your computer and go to the following site to listen to this very important testimony Wednesday November 4th at 10 A.M. eastern time. Click on the link below

http://commerce.senate.gov/

then click on the web cast link titled

The Future of Ocean Governance: Building Our National Ocean Policy

Top Obama admin officials to report on sweeping national policy

Allison Winter, E&E reporter

Top Obama administration officials will give a progress report this week on their efforts to create a national ocean policy, a plan that could lead to a system of zoning in the sea.

A Senate Commerce subcommittee will check in on the ocean task force at a hearing Wednesday. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chief Jane Lubchenco and other top officials from the White House Council on Environmental Quality, Interior Department and Coast Guard are expected to testify.

CEQ leads the multi-agency task force aimed at coordinating oceans policy. In September, the group issued an interim report with ideas for improving oceans protection (E&ENews PM, Sept. 17).

The recommendations set lofty goals to protect ocean resources and declared it the policy of the United States to protect the health and biological diversity of ocean resources and support "sustainable, safe, secure and productive" uses of the ocean. The report also details requirements for a new ocean council that would coordinate federal policy related to oceans issues.

The task force and its report all stemmed from a memo President Obama issued in June. He directed the group of two-dozen, top-level administration officials to draft a national ocean policy and develop a framework for marine planning by the end of the year.

The effort has ignited some opposition from lawmakers concerned that the oceans policy could curtail offshore energy development. A group of 69 House members sent a letter to CEQ Chairwoman Nancy Sutley last month, saying they fear the task force's proposals could inhibit offshore oil, gas and renewable energy development.

The 10 Democrats and 59 Republicans who signed the letter said the interim report did not give enough support to other priorities, like economic development of ocean resources and recreational use of waters.

The interim report includes a call for federal agencies to use ecosystems-based management and new marine spatial planning systems, or ocean "zoning," to assess projects at sea.

It also sets five areas of "special emphasis" for ocean conservation: climate change adaptation, regional ecosystem protection, water quality on land, and environmental stewardship in the Arctic and Great Lakes.

Marine experts have widely hailed the new ocean policy, calling it a historic, unprecedented effort from the White House on ocean conservation. But they say the administration will have to make a significant effort if it hopes to see some of the goals for ocean conservation come to fruition.

For their part, agency officials have been vague on how the new ocean policy could affect individual decisions like whether to approve offshore energy development.

Representatives from NOAA, the Interior Department and Defense Department have said the new ocean policy would not change their ongoing work to review permits for projects such as the Cape Wind proposal in Massachusetts.

But the changes could come later, according to Lubchenco. The process of siting and permitting similar projects in the future could take a very different approach after the task force creates recommendations for a "marine spatial planning" system that could essentially set up a system for zoning ocean resources.

The marine spatial planning framework -- which the task force will begin to put in motion by the end of the year -- will set parameters for how the federal government could approach ocean development at the ecosystem level, rather than just project by project in different isolated agencies.

Last week, the task force wrapped up the last of its public meetings to gain input on the ocean plan. The hearing in Cleveland focused on Great Lakes issues -- also part of the task force's purview. Previous public hearings were held in Anchorage; San Francisco; Providence, R.I.; New Orleans; and Hawaii.

Schedule: The hearing is Wednesday, Nov. 4, at 10 a.m. in 253 Russell.

Witnesses:
The Honorable Nancy Sutley
Chair Council on Environmental Quality
The Honorable Jane Lubchenco
Administrator National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
The Honorable Thad Allen
Commandant U.S. Coast Guard
The Honorable Laura Davis
Associate Deputy Secretary U.S. Department of the Interior
Mr. Billy Frank Jr.
Chairman Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission
Mr. Dennis Kelso
Executive Vice President The Ocean Conservancy
Mr. Matthew Paxton
Government Relations Counsel
Coastal Conservation Association
Mr. Sean O'Neill
President, Ocean Renewable Energy Coalition

Edited by fishrlady (Today at 09:09 PM)

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