Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force Issues Final Recommendations
On Monday, July 19, 2010, the White House Council on Environmental Quality ("CEQ") issued the Final Recommendations of the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force. The Final Recommendations are the culmination of a process that began on June 12, 2009 when President Obama formed the Task Force and tasked it with developing recommendations to enhance national stewardship of the ocean, coasts, and the Great Lakes and promote the long-term conservation of those resources.
The Final Recommendations will likely be carried over into an Executive Order to be signed by the President, which will establish a National Policy for the Stewardship of the Ocean, Coasts, and Great Lakes and create a National Ocean Council to enhance ocean governance and coordination between federal and state agencies. The Final Recommendations also express the Task Force's unanimous agreement that the United States should acceed to the Convention on the Law of the Sea and ratify its 1994 Implementing Agreement.
The CEQ's press release is available here. Attorneys at Stoel Rives are reviewing the Final Recommendations and assessing their impact on, among other things, offshore renewable energy development including offshore wind and marine and hydrokinetic projects. Stay tuned for more on this important development.
Obama Administration Officials Release Report on Ocean Policy
Last week, Obama Administration officials released the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force Interim Report (the “Interim Report”), which lays out a comprehensive national policy for protecting and managing the use of our oceans, coasts, and the Great Lakes. Created by President Obama via a June 12, 2009 Presidential Memorandum, the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force (the “Task Force”), is led by the Council on Environmental Quality’s Chair, Nancy Sutley and is composed of twenty-four senior-level officials from government agencies, departments, and offices. In preparing the Interim Report, the Task Force sought input from within the federal government, and from local officials, tribal representatives, scientists, legal and policy experts, and other stakeholders. The Task Force also solicited public input via a 90-day public engagement process.
The Interim Report identifies three key components to its comprehensive ocean and coastal strategy: (1) a national policy, (2) a robust governance structure, and (3) categories for action. The Interim Report’s national policy proposal is premised on the stewardship of the ocean, coasts, and Great Lakes as being “intrinsically and intimately linked” to human health, environmental sustainability, economic prosperity, security, foreign policy, social justice, and adaptation to climate change. With respect to the robust governance structure, the Interim Report calls for increased coordination among government agencies. To this end, the Interim Report proposes an interagency National Ocean Council to facilitate interagency coordination on ocean-related issues and implement the National Ocean Policy. The Interim Report also prioritizes nine categories for action in order to address the main challenges currently confronting our oceans, coasts and Great Lakes, including ecosystem-based management, improved observing systems and data collection, coastal and marine spatial planning, and regional ecosystem protection and restoration.
There is a 30-day window for submitting written comments on the Interim Report. The Task Force is also holding several regional public meetings to brief the public and accept comments on the Interim Report, and to obtain input on developing a framework for coastal and marine spatial planning. The Task Force has until December 9, 2009 to submit its proposed coastal and marine spatial planning framework to President Obama. The final Task Force report will also be issued later this year.
