June 20, 2012 – Congressman John Tierney says NOAA is in the process of belatedly complying with a 2011 congressional directive to analyze the savings, if any, the agency could realize by closing its Northeast Regional Office in Gloucester where more than 200 employees work in a nearly new $13 million facility.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's decision last year to ignore the order, inserted in the agency's $5 billion budget by Sen. Barbara Mikulski, sparked her amendment added to this year's pending appropriation to defund the operations in Gloucester and shift the duties to Silver Springs, Md, where the National Marine Fisheries Service is based.
Tierney told the Times that NOAA will submit its budgetary analysis of closing the Gloucester operation within "weeks."
NOAA spokesman David Miller said in an email that "NOAA Fisheries Service is continuing to work with Congress on the details of Congress's proposal."
Sens. John Kerry and Scott Brown, Mayor Carolyn Kirk and Tierney, whose congressional district includes all of Cape Ann, have all denounced the idea of closing the Gloucester office, which became the epicenter of a NOAA law enforcement scandal in 2010.
In May 2011, these reports led to a Cabinet-level apology and reparations of more than $600,000 to 11 fishing industry victims of justice miscarried.
Read the full story at the Gloucester Times.