Washington

Dr. Jane Lubchenco issued a written statement responding to the call by Congressman Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts) that she leave her post as NOAA administrator.

“Early in my tenure as NOAA administrator, I heard concerns about NOAA fisheries enforcement from members of the fishing community and Congress. I took those concerns very seriously and decided to seek outside review of NOAA's program. In June 2009, three months into my tenure, I asked the Commerce Department's inspector general to conduct a nationwide review of our fisheries enforcement activities, as well as the Office of Law Enforcement's Asset Forfeiture Fund. I wanted any actions I might take to be informed by a neutral assessment of the different parts of the program.

“As soon as the inspector general issued his first report, I took a number of actions, starting in January and March of this year, to improve the agency's enforcement and legal operations and enhance its relationship with the fishing community. The inspector general's most recent report identifies additional serious problems. I had already begun to deal with some of the problems identified and intend to take aggressive steps to address the remaining issues.

“I will continue to look for ways to improve our law enforcement program. Having an enforcement program that is transparent and perceived as fair and accountable is central to sustainable fishery management.

“These steps I have taken, combined with actions being planned, will go a long way toward helping us resolve the issues identified by the Inspector General and enhance our efforts to work with the fishing industry and public in a more constructive manner.

“America's fishermen are a vital part of our nation's economy and heritage and I remain committed to rebuilding fisheries and sustaining the communities that depend on them.”

Earlier today, Congressman Barney Frank, appearing on WBSM's Saving Seafood hour, called for the Obama Administration's NOAA Director to leave. 

Fellow Democrat John Tierney has joined him in calling for her departure.


Congressman Tierney's office has issued the following statement:

MASSACHUSETTS – July 8, 2010 – Today, Congressmen Barney Frank and John Tierney called for Dr. Jane Lubchenco, Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), to step down. After months of continued tension between Dr. Lubchenco and the fishing community, the lawmakers said it is time to take a look at NOAA leadership and ensure that top positions are filled with officials committed to increasing responsiveness and accountability.
 
"For too long our local fishing community has dealt with unfair regulations, treatment, and practices from officials at NOAA," Congressman Tierney said. "As issues continue to arise, we question whether Dr.  Lubchenco and NOAA leadership have done enough to increase responsiveness to the public and Congress, hold agency representatives accountable, and take a critical look at unfair catch share regulations. If the current NOAA leadership is not going to commit to work with local fishermen and end the culture of no accountability at NOAA, I believe it is time for them to be replaced with leadership that will refocus on these issues."
 
"I have for sometime been disappointed in Dr. Lubchenco's stance towards the fisherman, which seems to approach hostility," said Frank.  "This latest report confirms that the agency has been badly run without clear initiatives from her to correct the egregious problems at NOAA, and that is why I have called for her removal."
 
The Congressmen continue to actively press for answers from NOAA regarding numerous issues discussed during the field hearing spearheaded by Congressman Tierney on March 3, 2010 in Gloucester, including specific allegations of mistreatment of local fishermen and the negative economic impact of the new catch-share limits. The Congressmen are also working together on an amicus brief in support of a lawsuit filed against federal fishing regulations.
 
In addition, Congressman Tierney recently announced legislation that would reform NOAA's Asset Forfeiture Fund to prevent future misuse of NOAA's Asset Forfeiture Fund and provide reimbursements of certain legal fees to fishermen who have been cleared of wrongful allegations. Congressman Frank will also be reconvening a meeting of bipartisan and bicameral Northeast Members of Congress to further press the Administration to provide economic opportunities and assistance to impacted fishing communities.
 

On July 8, NOAA Administrator Dr. Jane Lubchenco issued the following statement on the Commerce Department Inspector General’s report on the Asset Forfeiture Fund which was released a week earlier on July 1.
July 8, 2010

Today, NOAA Administrator Dr. Jane Lubchenco issued the following statement on the Commerce Department Inspector General’s report on the Asset Forfeiture Fund. A detailed memo concerning her actions can be found here.

I have reviewed the recent Inspector General report. I am deeply troubled by the way the Asset Forfeiture Fund (AFF) has been handled in the past. Ensuring we use the monies in the AFF properly is essential to carrying out our duties as responsible managers of federal dollars and as stewards of coastal and marine resources. Our ability to execute these duties depends in large part upon the maintenance of proper internal controls.

Last February, I directed that the management of the AFF be transferred to NOAA’s Comptroller, and required his approval for all expenditures over $1000. These initial steps have already corrected some of the fundamental problems pointed out in the latest report.

However, more actions are needed. In order to ensure that the AFF is managed well from now on, I have directed NOAA General Counsel Lois Schiffer, NOAA’s Fisheries Service Director Eric Schwaab and NOAA Chief Financial Officer Maureen Wylie to develop, by July 30, 2010, a Corrective Action Plan for implementing proper budgeting, expenditure tracking, accounting, legal opinion, expenditure approvals, and external review to ensure NOAA has adhered to all policies and procedures. Once I have approved this plan, it will be implemented immediately. Moving ahead aggressively with all of these corrective efforts should be one of NOAA’s top priorities.

I have also directed them to evaluate whether any personnel actions are appropriate to ensure that those responsible for these problems surrounding the AFF are held accountable. They will report to me on this effort by July 30 as well.

At the core of our enforcement program going forward must be a firm commitment that monies from the AFF will be budgeted, expended, and accounted for with the same level of care as funding appropriated to NOAA. Congress established the AFF and other enforcement related funds for important purposes, and keeping faith with the American people requires that we assure that we are meeting these purposes.

Fair and effective enforcement of our nation’s fisheries laws and regulations protects fish stocks, marine mammals and the marine environment, and is essential to strong coastal communities with sustainable economies. I believe the actions we are now undertaking will greatly help to resolving the issues identified by the IG and KPMG and put us on a path for improving the management oversight of and transparency associated with our use of the AFF.

Dr. Jane Lubchenco, Administrator of NOAA issued the following statement on July 8 in response to the Commerce Department Inspector General’s report on the Asset Forfeiture Fund which was release a week earlier. July 8, 2010

Today, NOAA Administrator Dr. Jane Lubchenco issued the following statement on the Commerce Department Inspector General’s report on the Asset Forfeiture Fund. A detailed memo concerning her actions can be found here.

I have reviewed the recent Inspector General report. I am deeply troubled by the way the Asset Forfeiture Fund (AFF) has been handled in the past. Ensuring we use the monies in the AFF properly is essential to carrying out our duties as responsible managers of federal dollars and as stewards of coastal and marine resources. Our ability to execute these duties depends in large part upon the maintenance of proper internal controls.

Last February, I directed that the management of the AFF be transferred to NOAA’s Comptroller, and required his approval for all expenditures over $1000. These initial steps have already corrected some of the fundamental problems pointed out in the latest report.

However, more actions are needed. In order to ensure that the AFF is managed well from now on, I have directed NOAA General Counsel Lois Schiffer, NOAA’s Fisheries Service Director Eric Schwaab and NOAA Chief Financial Officer Maureen Wylie to develop, by July 30, 2010, a Corrective Action Plan for implementing proper budgeting, expenditure tracking, accounting, legal opinion, expenditure approvals, and external review to ensure NOAA has adhered to all policies and procedures. Once I have approved this plan, it will be implemented immediately. Moving ahead aggressively with all of these corrective efforts should be one of NOAA’s top priorities.

I have also directed them to evaluate whether any personnel actions are appropriate to ensure that those responsible for these problems surrounding the AFF are held accountable. They will report to me on this effort by July 30 as well.

At the core of our enforcement program going forward must be a firm commitment that monies from the AFF will be budgeted, expended, and accounted for with the same level of care as funding appropriated to NOAA. Congress established the AFF and other enforcement related funds for important purposes, and keeping faith with the American people requires that we assure that we are meeting these purposes.

Fair and effective enforcement of our nation’s fisheries laws and regulations protects fish stocks, marine mammals and the marine environment, and is essential to strong coastal communities with sustainable economies. I believe the actions we are now undertaking will greatly help to resolving the issues identified by the IG and KPMG and put us on a path for improving the management oversight of and transparency associated with our use of the AFF.

By Matt Viser, Globe Staff

WASHINGTON – Representative Barney Frank today called for the resignation of one of President Obama’s top fishing, ocean, and weather advisers.

Frank said that Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, should be replaced following an inspector general’s report that found misconduct within the agency.

“I believe the time has come to appoint a new head of…NOAA, and put somebody in there who’s really going to embrace what we need,” Frank said during an appearance on New Bedford-based WBSM-AM. “I think it’s time for Lubchenco to go.”

Frank has also clashed with Lubchenco over increasing fishing stocks that are considered vital to New Bedford’s fishing industry.

An audit released last week detailed how fishing regulators misspent millions of dollars that were collected from fines on fishermen. The money went toward items such as a $300,000 luxury undercover boat, cars for managers, and a weeklong training workshop in Norway.

The audit, conducted by the US Commerce Department’s Inspector General’s office, came after complaints from fishermen that fishing laws were being arbitrarily enforced.

In a statement, Lubchenco defended her tenure, saying that she had asked for the audit of the agency, and is implementing several changes in response.

Read the story at the Boston Globe

U.S. Sen. David Vitter today sent a letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers New Orleans District Commander Col. Alvin Lee regarding bureaucratic holdups in the urgent effort to protect the Louisiana coast from the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Specifically, the letter questions the Corps’ recent rejection of a permit request for the construction of rock barriers near Barataria Bay.

Dear Administrator Lubchenco, Administrator Jackson, and Colonel Lee:

I write to express my strong and ever growing frustration with yet another example of the faceless bureaucratic mindset of our federal agencies when it comes to protecting the Louisiana coast versus a solutions-oriented approach. On June 7th Jefferson Parish requested a permit for the emplacement of temporary rock dikes in the Barataria Bay passes as a defensive measure against oil intrusion into the bay. As of late last week expectations were that this project would receive the go-ahead from the Corps of Engineers. Appropriately, BP moved forward and procured $16 million in rocks, which are currently sitting in Barataria Bay on roughly 40 barges. However, yesterday the Corps denied the permit request.

Read the rest of the letter at Big News.

 

 

 

 

 

Unless justice is levied against those who have abused their authority and the public's trust, nobody in the fishing industry has any reason to trust that NOAA is acting in anyone's best interests but its own.

Fourth of July Editorial, The New Bedford (Massachusetts) Standard-Times

July 04, 2010

Without credibility, any regulatory agency is sunk.

And that is the case with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's law enforcement office, which is charged with enforcing the rules and regulations governing the nation's fisheries.

Ever since it was first reported early last year that the enforcement office has targeted fishermen from the Northeast for the harshest of fines and penalties, the agency has been on ever shakier ground with the industry it is supposed to regulate. And when it was reported that the head of the law enforcement office, Dale Jones, shredded documents during an investigation of the office's handling of enforcement cases against Northeast fishermen, NOAA was forced to replace him.

But an audit ordered by the Commerce Department's inspector general found that the problems go deeper than an overzealous enforcement chief.

The audit found that fishery police used the fines collected from heavy-handed enforcement of fishing regulations to purchase cars, a luxury boat and overseas travel for the very people in charge of enforcing the rules.

It is time for Congress and the White House to shine the bright lights on NOAA and its enforcement office to determine which laws the regulators themselves broke and to levy justice against those who have abused their authority and the public's trust.

Unless that happens, nobody in the fishing industry has any reason to trust that the regulatory agency is acting in anyone's best interests but its own.

Visit the Standard-Times website: SouthCoastToday

Unless justice is levied against those who have abused their authority and the public's trust, nobody in the fishing industry has any reason to trust that NOAA is acting in anyone's best interests but its own.

Fourth of July Editorial, The New Bedford (Massachusetts) Standard-Times

July 04, 2010

Without credibility, any regulatory agency is sunk.

And that is the case with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's law enforcement office, which is charged with enforcing the rules and regulations governing the nation's fisheries.

Ever since it was first reported early last year that the enforcement office has targeted fishermen from the Northeast for the harshest of fines and penalties, the agency has been on ever shakier ground with the industry it is supposed to regulate. And when it was reported that the head of the law enforcement office, Dale Jones, shredded documents during an investigation of the office's handling of enforcement cases against Northeast fishermen, NOAA was forced to replace him.

But an audit ordered by the Commerce Department's inspector general found that the problems go deeper than an overzealous enforcement chief.

The audit found that fishery police used the fines collected from heavy-handed enforcement of fishing regulations to purchase cars, a luxury boat and overseas travel for the very people in charge of enforcing the rules.

It is time for Congress and the White House to shine the bright lights on NOAA and its enforcement office to determine which laws the regulators themselves broke and to levy justice against those who have abused their authority and the public's trust.

Unless that happens, nobody in the fishing industry has any reason to trust that the regulatory agency is acting in anyone's best interests but its own.

Visit the Standard-Times website: SouthCoastToday

Maine's senior senator, Republican Olympia Snowe, has called on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chief Dr. Jane Lubchenco to freeze all expenditures from a fund into which fines and penalties levied on fishermen were deposited. This follows a audit carried out on behalf of the U.S. Commerce Department's Inspector General's office, which found that millions of dollars in fines collected from fishermen were misspent on cars, boats and travel.

"To have the misuse and abuse of this fund in the way the money was misappropriated is horrific," says Snowe, who is the ranking Republican on the Senate subcommittee which oversees NOAA. While she acknowledges that Lubchenco has already begun addressing some of the faults detailed by the Commerce Department earlier this year, she wants the federal agency toguarantee that no further abuses of the fund will take place and to introduce a system of greater transparency.

"I certainly will recommend and ask administrator Lubchenco to suspend the use of any these funds for any purpose until we can get to the bottom of it and what's happened," Snowe says.

The audit concludes that federal officials failed to properly account for the so-called Asset Forfeiture Fund, and spent freely on cars for personal use, a $300,000 luxury undercover boat and a training workshop overseas in Norway. With fishermen in the Northeast paying fines that are three times higher than any other region in the country, Snowe says this latest development adds to the tragedy.

Read the complete story from the Maine Public Broadcasting Network.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today the U.S. Department of Commerce Inspector General (IG) released what Congressman Walter B. Jones (NC-3) called an “appalling” audit of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Office Fisheries Law Enforcement’s (OLE) Asset Forfeiture Fund (AFF).  The audit is a follow-up to both the IG’s scathing January report that found “systemic nationwide issues” with NOAA’s fisheries law enforcement programs, practices and personnel, as well as a subsequent IG report which found that then OLE Director Dale Jones shredded large numbers of documents sought by the Inspector General.

The audit was conducted by major public accounting and auditing firm KPMG.  It found that NOAA Fisheries “administered the AFF in a manner that is neither transparent nor conducive to accountability, thus rendering it susceptible to both error and abuse.”  It also found that NOAA Fisheries used the AFF extensively “to cover a variety of expenses which do not appear to be ‘…directly related to investigations and civil or criminal enforcement proceedings,” which they are required to be by law.  Such expenditures include over $500,000 spent on international travel in the past four and a half years.  Other expenditures include $4.6 million for the purchase of 200 vehicles for only 172 enforcement personnel, including a vehicle for former OLE Director, Dale Jones, who would “ride the train to his office free of charge, by virtue of his status as an armed law enforcement officer,”; $2.7 million for the purchase of vessels, including $300,000 for an undercover vessel that the manufacturer’s website described as “luxurious” with a “beautifully appointed cabin”; and dozens of purchase card transactions that were either improper, fraudulent or duplicative.     

“The waste, fraud, and abuse revealed by this audit is appalling,” said Congressman Jones.  “It further confirms what fishermen have long suspected: NOAA Fisheries Law Enforcement has systematically abused fishermen in order to pad what has in essence become a slush fund for off-budget, inappropriate and in many cases, quite possibly illegal expenditures.  The mismanagement of this agency is just outrageous.”

“Furthermore, as long as the agency is allowed to keep the proceeds from forfeitures, seizures, fines and penalties against fishermen, I’m afraid it will have every incentive to continue to engage in these abusive practices,” Jones continued.  “That cannot be allowed.  That is why today I introduced legislation – H.R. 5668 – which would eliminate NOAA’s ability to keep these funds, and instead direct that money to the U.S. Treasury where it could only be used to pay down America’s federal deficit.”