This release can be found in the USGS Newsroom at: http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=2397.
News Release
January 28, 2010
Mark Fornwall 808-984-3724 mark_fornwall@usgs.gov John Mosesso 703-648-4079 john_mosesso@usgs.gov Ron Sepic 703-648-4218 ron_sepic@usgs.gov
January 21, 2010
Seeming to follow a pattern that is emerging in this country, Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell told his fellow citizen’s in his State of the State Address that the Federal Government is prohibiting Alaska from developing and growing and using its resources according to the needs of her people. Parnell cited history stating that Alaskans believed when they joined the Union that they would be free to develop resources.
Stating opposition to a plan that would set aside an area of land the size of California to protect polar bears, Parnell said the federal government and others have abused the Endangered Species Act to exert governmental power and take away state sovereignty.
Published by http://www.maritime-executive.com
http://www.maritime-executive.com/article/white-house-release-interim-framework-coastal-and-marine-spatial-planning/
Thursday, January 7th, 2010
Joan M. Bondareff, Of Counsel, Blank Rome LLP, weighs in and explains the recent release of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ)’s “Interim Framework for Effective Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning”.
In 1983, President Reagan declared that the United States had exclusive rights to the resources of the 200-mile zone off its coasts, the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), and the extended Outer Continental Shelf under customary international law. (He also rejected the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST) because of its restrictive provisions on seabed mining; ever since, the U.S. has failed to ratify LOST, but this is a story for another day.) Since the Reagan Proclamation, the U.S. has been devising ways to govern this vast offshore region—the U.S. has the largest EEZ in the world—and has largely done so using a hodge-podge of individual resource laws, such as the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA), the Magnuson Fishery and Conservation Management Act, and the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.
Twenty-five years after the Reagan Proclamation, with new and competing uses of the ocean for aquaculture, renewable energy, and large wind farms, the Obama Administration has proposed an ambitious plan to divide up the EEZ and Great Lakes along regional lines and, over the next five years, create a comprehensive system of Coastal and Marine Spatial Plans (CMSPs). When fully executed, we could have a zoning map of the oceans and coasts to provide predictability for siting of current and planned commercial uses.
On December 14, 2009, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) released to the public an “Interim Framework for Effective Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning”. ( The Interim Framework is available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/oceans ) The Interim Framework is available for public comment until February 12, 2010. Interested stakeholders, including those involved with ports and harbors, offshore shipping, cruise lines, offshore renewable and nonrenewable energy development, fisheries, and other users of the EEZ and Great Lakes, should take advantage of this process to submit their comments through the above portal. Following are some highlights of the Interim Framework and anticipated process for development of CMSPs.
Initially, the Interim Framework divides the EEZ and Great Lakes into nine regions consistent with the boundaries of identified Large Marine Ecosystems: (1) Alaska/Arctic Region (includes Alaska); (2) Caribbean Region (includes Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands); (3) Great Lakes Region (includes Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin); (4) Gulf of Mexico Region (includes Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas); (5) Mid-Atlantic Region (includes Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia); (6) Northeast Region (includes Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont); (7) Pacific Islands Region (includes Hawaii, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, and Guam); (8) South Atlantic Region (includes Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina); and (9) West Coast Region (includes California, Oregon, and Washington). (New York and Pennsylvania are counted twice because they are coastal and Great Lakes states.)
Each region is tasked with the development of a CMSP. The Plan is to be developed by a coordinating group of representatives from Federal, State and local, and tribal entities, as well as Alaskan and Hawaiian Native groups. The Plan is to be based on scientific data and the precautionary principle (derived from the Rio Declaration that requires caution to be taken when there is a risk of serious environmental damage and no scientific certainty). Stakeholder participation is encouraged throughout the process, mainly through the establishment of local advisory committees.
The goal of each CMSP is to identify areas within the region that are suitable for siting of various uses and to reduce conflicts among those uses. The Interim Framework does not create a hierarchy among all the competing uses of the EEZ, but mainly is aimed at providing a “public policy process for society to better determine how the oceans, coasts, and Great Lakes are sustainably used and protected now and for future generations.” Among the uses recognized as having a legitimate role are: aquaculture, commerce and transportation, commercial and recreational fishing, environmental conservation, maritime heritage, oil and gas exploration and development, ports and harbors, renewable energy (e.g., wind, wave, tidal, current, and thermal), and military readiness activities.
Once the Plans are developed at the regional level, they will be submitted to an interagency committee on ocean policy—the National Ocean Council (NOC)—for certification and approval. The regional principals will execute an agreement to put the CMSP into effect. At that point, all activities within the region are to be conducted consistent with the certified Plan—shades of federal consistency under the CZMA.
CEQ is realistic in acknowledging that development of the Plans will take considerable time and resources and that agency budgets may need tweaking to carry out the Plans. The Interim Framework anticipates that the first Plan may not be submitted to the NOC for three years and that all Plans may not be completed and certified before 2015.
The Interim Framework assumes that agencies have adequate authority to develop the Plans, but new legislation may be needed to resolve use conflicts down the road. It is hard to see how Congress will not have a substantial role in the development and approval of Plans that are aimed at managing resources throughout the 200-mile EEZ, extended OCS, and Great Lakes. The uses to be managed implicate many Congressional Committees and many agencies—all with their own prerogatives and interests. Eventually, it will probably be up to Congress, working with the Administration, to grant the agencies the respective authorities and resources they may lack to execute these regional CMSPs.
From an optimistic viewpoint, a well-developed Plan, with appropriate input from affected stakeholders, could lead to greater predictability and certainty in the regulatory and permitting processes for offshore maritime activities. This, in turn, could provide greater certainty for capital investments in ports and harbor infrastructure, new maritime highways, new forms of offshore energy, and other forms of commercial uses of the EEZ yet to be identified. This is the best we can hope for in a Framework of Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning. But, it is up to interested stakeholders to make sure their activities in the oceans of the U.S. are protected in the development of the CMSPs
Written by U.S. Army Corps, Norfolk District Public Affairs
Friday, 15 January 2010
Virginia Beach, Va. — January 15, 2010 — The Army Corps of Engineers Lynnhaven Oyster Restoration Project Team received the 2009 Coastal American Partnership Award Jan. 14 for their efforts to restore a 60-acre network of oyster reefs in the Lynnhaven River.
These are permanent sanctuaries – free from fishing – creating the second largest such network in the world. This network functions as a Marine Protected Area benefiting the ecosystem with increased oyster larval production throughout the river, improved juvenile fish habitat, and better water quality. The team will continue to collaborate between federal, state, local governments, academia and local non-profit organizations to expand the sanctuary to an additional 40 acres.
The ocean is wilderness at our doorstep. Standing on the beach looking seaward is an untamed environment. It may be difficult to directly observe and explore, but it is rich with life.
From a fish’s point of view, not every place in the ocean is created equal. The sea floor varies with ridges and plateaus, gravel banks, boulder piles, and broad muddy basins. Oceanography and geography combine to make some locations “hot spots” for marine life to feed or breed. Conditions change. Fish move around, fishermen follow the fish in a dynamic environment.