Forging a Coherent Oceans Policy
By John Broder, The New York Times.
The White House on July 19th, announced that it was forming a new National Ocean Council to try to make sense of the dozens of laws and overlapping agencies governing policy on oceans, coasts and the Great Lakes. The new body, which will include 24 officials from various federal agencies, will not have the power to propose new laws or regulations. Rather it will set broad policy goals and try to referee between conflicting commercial and recreational uses of the nation’s aquatic resources.
“This does not establish any new regulations,” said John P. Holden, the White House science adviser. “The new policy is about coordinating under existing law this welter of executive orders and statutes – 100 of them altogether – and the authority of many different agencies. The intent is to impose some coordination and coherence to this array of activities.”
The establishment of the group is the outcome of a year of study ordered by President Obama when he created an ocean policy task force. The group published its recommendations on Monday.
The ocean council will have no authority over decisions to allow oil and gas development off the nation’s coastlines. That power remains with the Department of Interior.
Beth Lowell, federal policy director for Oceana, an environmental advocacy group, said the new policy was overdue and should help ensure that ocean policy is guided by scientific and ecological values.
“As the BP oil disaster continues in the gulf, it is clear that we need to change the way we manage our oceans,” Ms. Lowell said in a statement. “Every decision about the oceans affects fish, wildlife and water quality, while impacting coastal communities, fisheries, tourism and overall ocean health. By taking a comprehensive, science-based approach to ocean conservation and management with a strong National Ocean Policy, the health of the oceans will finally guide decision-making.”
After Gulf oil spill, Obama plans better use of oceans
By Editorial Board, CSM
Long after the last oil seeps from the BP spill, the eco-disaster in the Gulf is bound to change the way Americans take responsibility for the oceans. President Obama made a start July 19th, by ordering 22 agencies with ocean responsibilities to become better stewards of the marine environment.
In particular, he endorsed the idea of zoning the nation’s coastal seas and Great Lakes, or the roping off of areas for such diverse uses as sport fishing, oil drilling, shipping, and underwater parks.
This “marine spatial planning” will be done in nine regions but coordinated by a new National Ocean Council. The aim is to minimize often-conflicting demands and improve the eco-systems.
One lesson from the BP spill was that the federal agency overseeing offshore drilling, the Minerals Management Service (MMS), was too focused on helping the industry extract oil and gas while downplaying protection of the environment. This new planning should provide better balance in locating drilling sites and saving vulnerable areas. The idea is already active in three coastal states, Oregon, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. And Scientific American magazine recently referred to it as one of “20 World Changing Ideas.”
But like zoning for land use, marine spatial planning is controversial. It forces government to restrict commercial or recreational activities based on estimates of sustaining always-changing marine areas. Ocean scientists often differ on the effects of human actions, and the concept of sustainability can sometimes be fuzzy.
At best though, the planning would end the idea of managing oceans one use at a time with little or no integration with other uses. A good example for the need for such planning is the increased plans for offshore wind farms.
Whether the federal government can maintain such planning over time remains to be seen. The initial proposal was amended after complaints from the fishing and ocean recreation lobby. Now the president’s order refers to those activities as “critical” to the nation.
The petroleum industry, despite the BP spill and earlier spills, claims it has a good record of working compatibly with other marine uses. That may be true, but the major damage from the occasional spill should require the industry to help pay for better management of ocean areas. A bill in Congress would dedicate 10 percent of offshore oil revenues to do just that.
Still, care of the oceans is everyone’s responsibility. One of the biggest killers of sea wildlife remains plastic debris, even the smallest particles. Huge swaths of the Atlantic and Pacific have been found to contain millions of floating plastic bits, causing the deaths of birds and marine mammals. And in the Gulf, farm runoff flowing down the Mississippi river creates “dead zones,” similar to the one that the oil spill appears to be creating.
From farm runoff to increased acidity from global warming, the oceans are under threat. The era of single-mindedly pursing one human activity with little thought to the ecological stresses must come to an end. Obama’s order treats the oceans more as a commons, like land and air. Some areas need strict preservation with marine sanctuaries while others can sustain high human use. Figuring all that out may not be easy but it is essential.
Los Angeles Times Article
The stewardship policy embraces a controversial zoning practice that could change how the U.S. regulates drilling, fishing and other maritime activities.
White House-Council On Environmental Quality
The Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force.
