NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries (ONMS) has announced the issuance of a regulation effective Mar. 16, 2023 that removes a section from existing regulations pertaining to the resolution of conflicting federal agency regulations by the ONMS Director.
The revision was made in response to concerns from federal agencies that the existing regulations providing that a conflict between an agency regulation and a sanctuary regulation be resolved through an ONMS Director determination does not reflect existing practice and may be an overreach of the ONMS Director’s authority.
In explaining its rationale for the regulatory text update, ONMS stated that existing regulatory text providing for the ONMS Director’s determination “does not reflect NOAA’s preferred approach to resolve potential interagency regulatory conflicts” and that the update is needed to “reflect existing practice” and “better track” the National Marine Sanctuaries Act.
