NOAA Proposes Regulations for Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary

On October 22, 2010, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration published Federal Register notice of proposed new regulations for Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary. This sanctuary is located in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico. NOAA requests public comments on its proposed new regulations no later than January 9, 2011. A public hearing on the proposals will be held on Thursday, December 9, 2010 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary office building at 4700 Avenue U, Building 216, Galveston, TX 77551.

You can read NOAA’s Federal Register notice at http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/2010-26762.htm.

Advancing Marine Spatial Planning through Research and Public Input

The following is from the R.I. Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC)

The Rhode Island Ocean Special Area Management Plan, or Ocean SAMP will serve as a federally recognized coastal management and regulatory tool. Using the best available science, the Ocean SAMP will provide a balanced approach to the development and protection of Rhode Island’s ocean-based resources.

Leading this project is the R.I. Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC), the state’s coastal management agency.

Research projects undertaken by URI scientists will provide the essential scientific basis for Ocean SAMP policy development.

Google’s OCS Energy Investment

The Atlantic Wind Connection (AWC) is a project to build an electricity transmission backbone for wind farms on the mid-Atlantic outer continental shelf. As AWC explains, the OCS’s “shallow waters, which extend miles out to sea, allow for the development of large, distant wind farms, mitigating visibility issues and allowing for greater energy capture from stronger winds.”

AWC notes that without “a transmission backbone, offshore wind developers would be forced to bring energy to land via radial lines that can make balancing the region’s existing grid more difficult. In addition, a single offshore backbone with a limited number of landfall points will minimize the environmental impacts of building multiple individual radial lines to shore.”

The Center for Progressive Reform (CPR) Believes that the Interactive Public Docket (IPD) Developed by the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness is Detrimental to the Public Interest

The CPR consists in large part of leading law faculty members who study  the federal regulatory process. CRE is a regulatory watchdog founded and presently managed by former regulatory officials of the White House Office of Management and Budget..

 CRE developed the concept of an Interactive Public Docket (IPD). The essence of an IPD is to convert the public comment period on proposed federal regulations to a 24/7 basis, meaning that the public could comment on a proposed rule 24 hours a day 7 days  a week and could do so after the close of  the public comment period.

National Science Foundation Announces Public Hearings, Comment Opportunity on Draft PEIS

The National Science Foundation is announcing public hearings and request for public comments on a Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement/Overseas Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS/OEIS) “for Marine Seismic Research Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) or Conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).”

“The Division of Ocean Sciences in the Directorate for Geosciences (GEO/OCE) has prepared the Draft PEIS as the lead agency with support from the cooperating agencies, USGS and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).