Using an Interactive Public Docket to Transmit Views to CEQ on a 24/7 Basis on its Initiative to Amend the NEPA Guidelines

 Editors  Note:  The paragraphs  below describe CRE’s program to utilize an Interactive Public Docket to keep CEQ apprised of pertinent events affecting its review of  NEPA guidelines.  Issues presented by select organizations are presented below and the  public is encouraged to offer their comments by clicking  on the  “comments” link in the upper  left hand corner of this post or the comparable link in the Discussion Forum which contains the article.

  CRE              CRE Announces  24/7  IPD Review of CEQ NEPA Recommendations

 NRDC            Seismic  Exploration

  CRE              Adverse Impact of CEQ’s  Regulations on the Fishing Industry

Ocean Task Force Report Emphasizes Information Quality Standards

On August 2, 2010, the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force announced the public availability of its “Final Recommendations of the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force.”  These recommendations are available online at http://www.whitehouse.gov/files/documents/OPTF_FinalRecs.pdf.

 In summary, they are:  

1)  Protect, maintain, and restore the health and biological diversity of ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes ecosystems and resources;

 2)  Improve the resiliency of ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes ecosystems, communities, and economies;

 3)  Bolster the conservation and sustainable uses of land in ways that will improve the health of ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes ecosystems;

5th International Fishers Forum on Marine Spatial Planning and Bycatch Mitigation

The Fifth International Fishers Forum on Marine Spatial Planning and Bycatch Mitigation will be held at the Shangri-La Far Eastern Plaza Hotel, Taipai, on August 3-5, 2010.  Topics to be discussed include “Fishing industry experiences with marine spatial planning on the U.S. west coast” and “”Socioeconomic effects on commercial fisheries from spatial planning by the US Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument.”

The program may be found here, http://www.fishersforum.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/IFF5_ENGagenda_WEB072710.pdf

Abstracts of papers presented at the meeting may be found here, http://www.fishersforum.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/IFF5_ENGabstracts_WEB072710.pdf

Administration Releases Final Recommendations of the Ocean Policy Task Force

Obama Administration officials released the Final Recommendations of the Ocean Policy Task Force on July 19, 2010, which would establish a National Policy for the Stewardship of the Ocean, Coasts, and Great Lakes (National Policy) and create a National Ocean Council (NOC) to strengthen ocean governance and coordination.  The Final Recommendations prioritize actions for the NOC to pursue, and call for a flexible framework for coastal and marine spatial planning to address conservation, economic activity, user conflict, and sustainable use of the ocean, our coasts and the Great Lakes. 

Government’s Offshore Drilling Commission Criticizes Government’s Moratorium

The Chairman of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling Commission has criticized the Obama Administration’s deepwater drilling moratorium. Commission co-chairman Bob Graham, a former Democratic senator from Florida who was appointed to the Commission by president Obama, stated that there’s a “disconnect between Washington and the Gulf region about the sense of urgency needed.” Another co-chair, former Environmental Protection Agency Chief William Reilly, stated , “I come to  this experience with a much greater sense of the economic dislocation being experienced here than I had three days agao” before the commission began hearings in New Oreleans. “It’s not clear for me why it should take so long to reassure oneself about (safety) considerations on those rigs.”

NOAA SAB Meets on Ocean Zoning in the Gulf of Mexico

The Science Advisory Board of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is the only Federal Advisory Committee advising NOAA on strategies for research, education, and application of science to operations and information services. The NOAA SAB will meet on July 20, 2010, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Wednesday, July 21, 2010, from 8:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m.  The meeting will be held both days at the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, 5401 Bay Shore Road, Education/Conservation Bldg., Room 1003-1004, Sarasota, Florida, Phone: 941-359-5700.  This meeting is open to the public, and public comments will be accepted. 

CRE Submits Comments to NMFS on Arctic EIS

CRE makes  a number of comments but emphasizes that there is no need to discard the tremendous amount of work done to date by preparing a new EIS in lieu of supplementing the  exisiting draft EIS.

CRE also emphasizes that MMS should not be relegated to a secondary role by simply being a reviewer of NMFS work; instead MMS  should be a c0-chair of the EIS preparation effort.

See CRE’s comments below.

CRE Testifies at NOAA Alaska Hearings on Arctic EIS

Williiam Kelly, CRE’s  Western Representative, testified at NOAA’s scoping hearing for the Arctic EIS. His testimony is appended below.

Comments include:

l. No need to begin a new EIS, simply supplement the  existing EIS.

2. MMS should serve as a co-chair of the drafting committe along side NOAA

3.  The “new” scientific information identified by NOAA in the Federal Register notice should be public.

CRE welcomes public comments on its  presentation, by providing comments using the link in the upper left hand column of this article.

Comments on the Notice of Intent to Prepare

CRE Issues Data Quality Alert to NMFS on Gulf of Mexico Take Rule

NMFS  is in the process of revising the incidental take rules for oil and gas exploration in the Gulf of Mexico. CRE alerts NMFS to the statutory requirement that all such actions be in compliance with the Data Quality Act.

CRE Testifies Before the NOAA SAB on Marine Spatial Planning

CRE made a presentation to the NOAA SAB on November 3  in Silver Spring, MD. 

CRE made two recommendations to the SAB:

(1)   the SAB should  request that they be accorded the opportunity to review the CEQ/NOAA document on Marine Spatial planning to prepared as a result of the recent directive of the President.

 (2)  the SAB request a briefing from NOAA staff on the Data Quality Act and its applicability to the aforementioned report on marine spatial planning and its applicability to NOAA marine models.