WASHINGTON — November 9, 2010 – The White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) and the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) today convened the first Principals meeting of the National Ocean Council in the Roosevelt Room of the White House. The meeting, attended by 25 Cabinet Secretaries and Senior Officials from across the Federal Government, focused on key steps to implement the National Policy for the Stewardship of the Ocean, our Coasts, and Great Lakes. Groundwork for the meeting was laid at an inaugural Deputy Committee meeting held in September that, as with today’s meeting, was led by the Council co-chairs, OSTP Director John P. Holdren and CEQ Chair Nancy Sutley.
President Obama signed Executive Order 13547 on July 19, 2010, establishing our Nation’s first comprehensive, integrated National Policy for the Stewardship of the Ocean, our Coasts, and Great Lakes. The Executive Order created the Cabinet-level National Ocean Council to coordinate across the Federal Government to implement the National Policy. The Principals meeting of the National Ocean Council was a critical starting point to begin to address the ambitious set of actions the National Policy lays out over the next 12 months.
During the meeting, the Council:
• Reviewed the role of the National Ocean Council and the work ahead;
• Approved the National Ocean Council charter;
• Approved operational items for establishing a Governance Coordinating Committee to formally engage with state, tribal, and local authorities;
• Approved the charter for the U.S. Extended Continental Shelf (ECS) Task Force for it to continue to coordinate the collection of information to establish the full extent of the continental shelf of the United States in accordance with international law; and
• Established Interagency Working Groups to address topics including information management and communications and public and stakeholder engagement. PARTICIPANTS:
Co-Chairs
White House Council on Environmental Quality
Nancy Sutley, Chair
White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
Dr. John P. Holdren, Director
NOC Members
Department of Agriculture
Tom Vilsack
Secretary
Department of Commerce
Gary Locke
Secretary
Dr. Jane Lubchenco
Undersecretary for Oceans and Atmosphere
NOAA Administrator
Department of Defense
Robert M. Gates
Secretary
Environmental Protection Agency
Lisa P. Jackson
Administrator
Department of Energy
Dr. Steven Chu
Secretary
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (invitation pending)
Jon Wellinghoff
Chairman
Department of Health and Human Services
Kathleen Sebelius
Secretary
Department of Homeland Security
Janet Napolitano
Secretary
Department of the Interior
Ken Salazar
Secretary
Joint Chiefs of Staff
Adm. Mike Mullen
Chairman
Department of Justice
Eric Holder
Attorney General
Department of Labor
Hilda L. Solis
Secretary
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Charles F. Bolden, Jr.
Administrator
National Science Foundation
Dr. Cora Marrett
Acting Director
Department of State
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary
Department of Transportation
Ray LaHood
Secretary
Office of the Vice President
TBD
Director of National Intelligence
TBD
White House Office of Management and Budget
Peter Orszag
Director
Assistant to the President for National Security
General James Jones (Ret.)
Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism
John Brennan
Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy
Melody Barnes
Assistant to the President for Economic Policy
Lawrence Summers
Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change Policy
Carol Browner
Director
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