In a Senate Commerce Committee hearing examining the role of oceans in our economic future, U.S. Senator Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) today extolled the present and future contributions of oceans to our national economy, from renewable energy to the fishing industry. Currently, the world’s oceans face numerous threats to their productivity and viability, including the looming threat of climate change.
"As coastal counties contributed forty-two percent of the U.S. economic output in recent years, it is clear that oceans truly hold the key to our economic future," Senator Snowe said. "Yet with growing environmental and economic threats to its viability, we must take stock of our ocean resources and examine the ways we can continue to utilize the goods and services our oceans provide for while strengthening our efforts to protect them. Increasing our investment in programs within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, such as the Integrated Ocean Observing System, would bolster our understanding of marine ecosystems and lead to new, more productive, and more sustainable use of our ocean space."
Senator Snowe emphasized the importance of developing offshore renewable energy, particularly offshore wind which is the most commercially viable source of offshore green power. Last Friday, Senator Snowe joined Governor of Maine John Baldacci and her colleagues in the Maine delegation in a meeting with Secretary of energy Steven Chu to express their support for establishing a deepwater offshore wind energy research and development center at the University of Maine.