White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Brenda Mallory and Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Director Eric Lander today convened the first meeting of the Ocean Policy Committee under the Biden administration and since being statutorily authorized by Congress in January.
An OSTP summary of the meeting said that the Committee will coordinate across the government and “drive forward effective ocean science and management policy,” noting that the ocean “plays an integral part in the Biden-Harris Administration’s key priorities including tackling climate change, racial equity, and the economy.”
During the meeting, the Committee discussed the following three strategic priorities: (1) maximization of the environmental, economic, and social benefits the ocean provides to Americans; (2) development of an ocean-climate action plan to focus agency actions on ocean-based mitigation of climate change effects; and (3) identification of strategic direction for ocean science and technology.
