Offshore Backbone Developer Makes Bid for $100 Million in Tax Credits

From: NJ Spotlight

Marine Protected Areas Federal Advisory Committee Recommendation

Agencies prepare to carve up coastal waters (Sign on San Diego)

Unprecedented zoning process will be based on ecosystem approach

From: Sign on San Diego

By: Mike Lee

State officials decided last week that a hotly contested set of marine protected areas will take effect in the nearshore waters of Southern California on Jan. 1.

That planning process split the region into pro-fishing and no-fishing camps since it started in 2008, but it pales in comparison to the scope of a federal initiative that’s starting to take shape as a priority of the Obama administration.

Washington State Seeks Nominations for Ocean Advisory Group

A new advisory group is being established to provide input to the Washington State Ocean Caucus, an interagency team made up of state agencies with management roles or expertise in ocean and coastal issues. Nominations for membership on the advisory panel are currently being sought, with the goal of including representatives from a wide variety of coastal and ocean interests. Any individuals or groups can nominate candidates (including themselves) to the advisory group, but all nominations must be received by Tuesday, September 27, 2011

More information is available here

Summary of the Regional Workshop on Marine Spatial Planning

In June 2011 the World Wildlife Fund and the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans held the Regional Workshop on Marine Spatial Planning: A Technical Learning  Session in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The workshop report presents a high-level overview of key discussion points from the workshop, with a focus on those that could be helpful or instructive to future action.

The summary is available here

Report on Marine Zoning in St. Kitts and Nevis

From: http://www.marineplanning.org/Case_Studies/StKitts_Report.html

Executive Summary

Human activities are placing increased and often conflicting demands on coastal and marine waters worldwide. As a result, important coastal areas are under intense pressure, threatening the biological diversity of marine habitats and the ecosystem services they provide, such as coastal protection, food security, tourism amenities and biodiversity protection. Marine zoning, one of the possible outcomes of a marine spatial planning process, has emerged recently as an approach to address these issues. The case for marine zoning is particularly strong in the Caribbean, but there are few examples to date of comprehensive marine zoning for tropical island nations.

Comments by the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness on BOEMRE ICRS OCS Seismic

CRE‟s comments focus on the seismic aspects of this Information Collection Request (“ICR”). BOEMRE has successfully regulated offshore seismic for years. The costs, burden and efficacy of that regulation, including information collections, are well known. That may soon change.

In New Orleans federal court, environmental group plaintiffs are suing BOEMRE over regulation of seismic in the Gulf of Mexico (“GOM”). At the request of the parties, this litigation is currently stayed until October 1, 2011. The purpose of the stay is settlement negotiations. Based on the parties‟ pleadings, any settlement acceptable to the plaintiffs could dramatically change current regulation of seismic in the GOM, including information collections, and could significantly increase the costs, burden and efficacy of that regulation, including information collections.