White House Recommends Creating National Oceans Council, But Shuns NOAA. By Les Blumenthal, McClatchy, November 8, 2009. "Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the oceans have absorbed 525 billion tons of carbon dioxide. They're now absorbing about 22 million tons of carbon dioxide a day... More than 60% of the nation's coastal rivers and bays are moderately to severely degraded by nutrient runoff from products such as fertilizer, creating algae blooms that affect the kelp beds and grasses that are nurseries for many species of fish... The danger signals are everywhere, some related to climate change and greenhouse gases and others not... As the grim news mounts, a storm is brewing in Washington, D.C., over who should oversee oceans policies. A White House task force has recommended creating a National Ocean Council that would develop and implement national ocean policy and include the secretaries of state, defense, agriculture, interior, health and human services, labor, commerce, transportation and homeland security. It also would include the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, the administrators of NASA and the Environmental Protection Agency , the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the director of national intelligence and the chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Plus the president's advisers on national security. homeland security, domestic policy and economic policy. The chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality and the director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy would head the council.
"However, NOAA, the nation's primary ocean agency, which includes the National Ocean Service, the nation's premier science agency for oceans and coasts; the National Marine Fisheries Service, which manages living marine resources; the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, which studies climate, weather and air quality; and the National Weather Service -- is missing from the task force's list. 'I am mystified why NOAA has been exempted,' said Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe, the top Republican on the subcommittee. 'It was a surprise,' Sen. Maria Cantwell, D- Wash., said in an interview. 'I didn't know it would be this sensitive.' Cantwell chairs the oceans subcommittee of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. Her panel held a hearing on the issue in early November."
No comments:
Post a Comment