Feds to think first about ocean stewardship

July 19, 2010
McClatchy Newspaper

Feds to think first about ocean stewardship

It came too late for the Gulf of Mexico, but the White House today announced that for the first time the nation will have a policy that says it’s important to protect our oceans, coasts and the Great Lakes.

President Barack Obama set up a task force to come up with an ocean stewardship plan in June 2009. After months of meetings and comments gathering, it released its recommendations today.

A key part of the new policy says that all offshore policies and actions _ drilling, fishing, wind farms and all the rest _ should be done in the context of a big-picture look at sustainable ocean use. The job will fall to a new National Ocean Council, made up of representatives of federal agencies.

The task force’s report today says the BP oil spill is a “stark reminder of how vulnerable our marine environments are, and how much communities and our Nation rely on healthy and resilient ocean and coastal ecosystems.”

Proposal: The Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force
http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/ceq/initiatives/oceans

Read more: http://blogs.mcclatchydc.com/washington/#ixzz0uEnHETx2