^®: CRE Regulatory Action of the Week

CRE Testifies on Marine Spatial Planning to NOAA's Science Advisory Board
On November 3-4, 2009, NOAA's SAB held a public meeting in Silver Spring, MD, and one of the agenda items was marine spatial planning. CRE's Jim Tozzi delivered oral comments to the Board on that subject.

Mr. Tozzi made two recommendations to the SAB: 1) The Board should advise NOAA to request public comment on a draft of the marine spatial planning portion of the upcoming report to the President by the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force; and (2) The Board should be briefed by the agency on the Data Quality Act standards for scientific information, and especially how those standards apply to NOAA's marine modeling.

During the meeting, CRE was advised informally by NOAA personnel that there would be an opportunity for public comment on the marine spatial planning portion of the Task Force report.

CRE compliments NOAA for its commitment to public participation on the marine spatial planning issues, and also on its excellent record in implementing the DQA guidance, particularly the requirement for agency pre-dissemination review. See http://thecre.com/pdf/Emerging_Information_Quality_Act-Pre-Dissemination_Review_&_Documentation_Form.pdf.