BILOXI, Miss.—Commerce Secretary Gary Locke says his agency is working to assure the public that seafood from the Gulf of Mexico is safe.
Locke also says that applies to Gulf seafood already in grocery stores and in restaurants.
He said Thursday in a news conference in Biloxi, Miss., that portions of the Gulf have been closed to fishing to send a signal that seafood harvested from the Gulf is safe.
Read the complete story at The Boston Globe.
National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration officials last fall warned the Department of Interior, which regulates offshore oil drilling, that it was dramatically underestimating the frequency of offshore oil spills and was dangerously understating the risk and impacts a major spill would have on coastal residents.
NOAA is the nation's lead ocean resource agency, and the warnings came in its response to a draft of the Obama Administration's offshore oil drilling plans. The comments were Web-published in October by the whistle-blowing group, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).
But NOAA's views were largely brushed aside as Obama went ahead and announced on March 31 that he would open vast swaths of American coastal waters to offshore drilling — a plan now very much in doubt as a blown-out BP well in the Gulf of Mexico spews out an estimated 200,000 gallons of oil daily, for the 13th straight day.
The memo, which NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco wrote was based on the agency's "extensive science, management and stewardship expertise related to oceans, coasts and marine ecosystem" recommended that Interior conduct "a more complete analysis of the potential human dimensions of offshore production."
Read the complete story at The Huffington Post.
The request by 23 federal lawmakers to deliver higher, emergency catch allocations for the New England groundfishery was sent to Commerce Secretary Gary Locke over the head of — and without even a "cc" to — National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chief Jane Lubchenco.
And the disassociation was meant to be a message — a sign of growing frustration with Lubchenco, a number of sources have told the Times.
The Conservation Law Foundation said it opposes approach taken by the federal lawmakers.
Peter Shelley, director of the CLF's advocacy center, said lawmakers should not be involved in micromanaging the fishery.
EDF Ocean Policy Director Julie Wormser said the council and the National Marine Fisheries Service within NOAA is increasing catch limits wherever new data or flexibility within Magnuson allows. A new survey of pollock, the No. 1 "choke" species in the New England mixed groundfishery, is due in June.
"For the other stocks mentioned in the letter to Secretary Locke, increased investments in science are needed to speed up new stock assessments and safely increase catch limits without overfishing stocks," Wormser added. "It would be very helpful if Secretary Locke and Congress agreed to make those investments."
Read the complete story at The Gloucester Daily Times.
The giant oil slick that's spreading over the Gulf of Mexico is clear proof that offshore oil platforms don't belong in the Gulf of Maine and surrounding waters, say Maine's congressional representatives and environmental groups.
"We don't want to see what is happening in the Gulf of Mexico ever happen in the Gulf of Maine," said U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, in a written statement Friday. "An oil spill like that one here in Maine would be devastating to the fishing economy and our environment."
The idea of drilling for oil in or around the Gulf of Maine has stirred controversy for decades.
Federal officials have estimated that more than 700 million barrels of oil could lie beneath Georges Bank, a fertile fishing ground about 200 miles southeast of Portland. Test wells drilled more than 30 years ago came up dry, however, and Maine's state geologist testified in Congress last year that oil and gas reserves off the state's coast would be modest and barely worth the effort to recover.
Read the complete story The Portland Press Herald.
Louisiana Senator David Vitter, on Thursday, mailed a letter to Secretary of The Interior, Ken Salazar, Admiral Thad W. Allen Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard and Jane Lubchenco, the NOAA Administrator requesting support and information in connection with the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico approaching the Louisiana coast.
In addition, the Senator notified vessel owners that their assistance was needed for the cleanup. Below are the letter to Allen, Salazar and Lubchenco with a copy to Governor Bobby Jindal. In addition, below is the memorandum to vessel owners:
Letter to Secretary of The Interior, Ken Salazar, Admiral Thad W. Allen:
As Louisiana and other Gulf States struggle to deal with the incident and challenges surrounding clean-up and containment of the well at Deepwater Horizon, your aggressive response and coordinated efforts are deeply appreciated. Given the ongoing difficulties at the well site that will continue for the next several weeks, I am hopeful that you are receiving adequate support and information.
The Gulf of Mexico has not only been a long-time economic provider and job creator for the energy industry, but it is also a valuable resource to fishing communities and the culture of Louisiana. In that light, I ask that the continual updates on the ongoing efforts provided by your coordinating agencies include impact estimates on fish species that impact commercial and recreational fishermen as well as wildlife.
Read this complete story at Bayou Buzz.
Today, United States Senator Charles E. Schumer met with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrator Dr. Jane Lubchenco and secured her commitment to visit Long Island this summer to meet with local fishers to hear firsthand the economic impact that imprecise and inflexible fishing restrictions is having on the industry. Schumer also cited recently released information that showed NOAA’s early estimates for black sea bass catch in 2009 were overvalued and called for an immediate expansion of the sea bass fishing season in 2010. Administrator Lubchenco committed to taking a hard look at an expansion of the season.
“I am pleased Administrator Lubchenco has accepted my invitation and agreed to meet with members of the Long Island fishing community this summer to explore how we can improve imprecise and inflexible regulations,” said Senator Schumer. “Long Island’s fishing industry pumps untold millions of dollars into New York’s economy, keeps thousands of people employed in Long Island, is a fundamental part of our heritage and traditions, and is a major contributor to tourism. It’s vital Administrator Lubchenco see firsthand the impacts that overly restrictive regulations have on families and businesses in Long Island.”
At their meeting today, Schumer also secured Lubchenco’s commitment to fully explore an expansion of the sea bass season. Recent data on sea bass catches proved that original estimates from 2009, which resulted in significantly lower catch quotas for 2010, were inaccurate. Administrator Lubchenco committed to active consideration of expanding the sea bass season based on recent evidence.
Read the complete story at Big News.
Cape Cod congressman Bill Delahunt put it best Wednesday: "Cape Wind is the first offshore wind farm to be built in the wrong place, in the wrong way, stimulating the wrong economies."
But the congressman is wrong about one thing: This wind farm won't be built — for all the right reasons.
OUR VIEW: Good news? Cape Wind OK'd. Bad news? it took a decade.
The Obama administration's decision is a callous dismissal of all of us on Cape Cod and the Islands — from Native Americans whose religious rights were ignored to environmentalists, fishermen and local businesses.
And, as will be clear when Cape Wind is finally forced to reveal the costs of this project, it shows a complete disregard for Massachusetts ratepayers who will be stuck paying some of the highest electricity bills in the nation to cover the cost of an anti-environmental land grab by a private developer for the right to put 130 massive turbines into 25 square miles of Nantucket Sound.
But this fight is far from over.
Read the complete editorial from USA Today.
The head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will visit Long Island to meet with commercial and recreational fishermen on their complaints about federal regulations.
Agency administrator Jane Lubchenco agreed to the request from Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) when the New York Democrat met her Wednesday in Washington.
Read the complete story at News Day.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke will meet May 12 with the 20 members of Congress from the Northeast who wrote him last week seeking relief from severe fishing limits being imposed on the fishing industry starting May 1.
The exact time and place of the meeting hasn’t been set, according to spokespersons for U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., and Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., both of whom signed the letter to Locke.
The letter asked Locke to intervene and use what they said is his legal authority under the Magnuson-Stevens Act to amend fishing allocations on an emergency basis. Despite many pleas from the industry and from Northeast political leaders to NOAA and to Commerce, the federal government so far has changed nothing with regard to catch shares or the new sector management system being launched this weekend.
The fear is that limits for certain “choke” species are set so low that they will be reached very early, forcing whole groups of boats, called sectors, to stop fishing for the year entirely when they are only months or weeks along.
Read the complete story at The South Coast Today [subscription site]
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In a groundbreaking decision that some say will usher in a new era of clean energy, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said today he had approved the nation's first offshore wind farm, the controversial Cape Wind project off of Cape Cod.
"This will be the first of many projects up and down the Atlantic coast," Salazar said at a joint State House news conference with Governor Deval Patrick. The decision comes after nine years of battles over the proposal.
"America needs offshore wind power and with this project, Massachusetts will lead the nation," Patrick said.
The decision had been delayed for almost a year because of two Wampanoag Native American tribes' complaints that the 130 turbines, which would stand more than 400 feet above the ocean surface, would disturb spiritual sun greetings and possibly ancestral artifacts and burial grounds on the seabed. The ocean floor was once exposed land before the sea level rose thousands of years ago.
Read the complete story at The Boston Globe.