Media Coverage

The U.S. House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis Majority Staff today released a report on “Solving the Climate Crisis: The Congressional Action Plan for a Clean Energy Economy and a Healthy, Resilient, and Just America.” The 547-page report features 12 pillars, including one to “Protect and Restore America’s Lands, Waters, Ocean, and Wildlife” that includes […]

The U.S. Coast Guard today announced that it is seeking comments by Friday, Aug. 28 on its efforts to conduct a Port Access Route Study to evaluate the adequacy of existing vessel routing measures and whether additional vessel routing measures are necessary for port approaches to New York and New Jersey and international and domestic transit areas in

The Coast Guard today announced that it is seeking comments by Tuesday, Aug. 18 on the possible establishment of 9 shipping safety fairways along the U.S. Atlantic Coast that were identified in the Atlantic Coast Port Access Route Study in order to “protect maritime commerce and safe navigation amidst extensive offshore development on the Atlantic Coast.”  The announcement notes

NOAA’s Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research today announced the availability of the agency’s R&D Vision Areas for 2020-2026, which it says will “provide a common understanding among NOAA’s leadership, workforce, partners, and constituents on the value and direction of NOAA R&D activities.” NOAA R&D priorities over the next seven years will focus on the following vision areas: Reducing

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management today announced that it is seeking comments by Monday, July 27 on a draft Vineyard Wind Offshore Wind Energy Project Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement analyzing reasonably foreseeable effects from an expanded cumulative activities scenario for offshore wind development, new fishing data, a new transit line alternative, and changes to the Construction and Operations

Following up on last November’s Presidential Memorandum on Ocean Mapping of the United States Exclusive Economic Zone and the Shoreline and Nearshore of Alaska, the White House today announced the release of a document outlining opportunities and actions to increase the efficiency of the permitting and authorization processes for ocean research, mapping, and characterization activities across regions.  Additionally, the White

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management today announced the release of its FY 2021-2022 Studies Development Plan, which outlines the agency’s research priorities and describes proposed studies for the covered period.  Nine of the Plan’s proposed studies will be presented at the upcoming National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s 13th meeting of the BOEM Standing Committee on Offshore

Capitol Hill Ocean Week took place virtually today, with a focus on biodiversity.  In a series of prerecorded videos, Members of Congress commented on the following: Need for action to protect 30% of lands and 30% of the ocean by 2030 (Sen. Tom Udall [D-NM], Rep. Debra Haaland [D-NM]), with Udall also endorsing a 50%

President Trump today issued a Presidential Memorandum on “Safeguarding U.S. National Interests in the Arctic and Antarctic Regions.”  Citing the need for a “ready, capable, and available fleet” of polar icebreakers that are ready for deployment by FY 2029, the Memorandum directs the development and execution of a polar security icebreaking fleet acquisition program. Specific actions include

President Trump today issued a Presidential Proclamation removing the prohibition on commercial fishing within the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, finding that “appropriately managed commercial fishing would not put the objects of scientific and historical interest that the monument protects at risk” and that a prohibition on commercial fishing is not now necessary for the