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White House appoints former NOAA leader Jane Lubchenco to key climate change role

March 23, 2021 โ€” The White House has appointed Jane Lubchenco, a well-known marine scientist at Oregon State University and former head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, to a high-level position coordinating climate and environmental issues within its Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).

The announcement scheduled for Friday marks another step in the Biden administrationโ€™s all-of-government approach to tackling climate change.

Lubchenco is serving in the renamed position of deputy director for climate and the environment, which in previous administrations had been known as the head of โ€œenergy and the environment.โ€ The renaming signifies the emphasis the Biden Administration is placing on climate change.

Lubchencoโ€™s portfolio encompasses a broad set of issues that President Biden asked OSTP officials to address in a letter on Jan. 15. In the letter to Eric Lander, nominated to serve as presidential science adviser, Biden tasked OSTP with finding climate change solutions that will help improve the economy and health, โ€œespecially in communities that have been left behind.โ€

Read the full story at The Washington Post

President Trump signs Presidential Memorandum to Accelerate Ocean Exploration and Map the U.S. EEZ and Alaskan Shoreline and Nearshore

November 20, 2019 โ€” The following was released by The White House:

Today, President Donald J. Trump issued a Presidential Memorandum on Ocean Mapping of the United States Exclusive Economic Zone and the Shoreline and Nearshore of Alaska. In the Presidential Memorandum, President Trump is directing Federal agencies to develop a National strategy to map the United States Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and a strategy to map the Alaskan coastline to advance our understanding of our oceans and coastlines and to promote efficient permitting related to ocean exploration activities. These actions will benefit the U.S. economy, national security, and our environment.

The Presidential Memorandum was announced following last weekโ€™s White House Summit on Partnerships in Ocean Science and Technology which was hosted by the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). The Summit brought together leaders from academia, the private sector, philanthropy, and the Federal government to identify opportunities to build partnerships that advance marine science, promote new technologies, and explore the unknown ocean. 

โ€œWith todayโ€™s Presidential Memorandum, the United States will accelerate ocean exploration and expand our knowledge of the ocean,โ€ said Council on Environmental Quality Chairman Mary B. Neumayr. โ€œThe knowledge gained from mapping and exploring the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone will inform policies and guide actions to promote conservation, management, and balanced use of our ocean.โ€

โ€œA bold new era of ocean exploration is made possible through President Trumpโ€™s actions. We can now learn and discover our oceans and coastlines better through mapping strategies and research activities in the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone. This step forward through partnerships on innovation and ocean technology will benefit our economy, build on national security priorities, and ensure effective conservation management,โ€ said Dr. Kelvin Droegemeier, Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy. 

โ€œPresident Trump continues to safeguard our future prosperity and national security with his bold, comprehensive oceans policies,โ€ said Joe Grogan, Assistant to the President and Director of the Domestic Policy Council. โ€œTodayโ€™s action will improve our understanding of the rich ecological and economic resources off our shores and reduce our reliance on foreign sources for important resources.โ€

โ€œMapping U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone and nearshore waters represents a tremendous step towards realizing the full scientific and commercial potential of our oceans and coastlines, and is essential for harnessing American offshore energy resources,โ€ said Department of Energy Under Secretary of Energy Mark W. Menezes. โ€œNot only is more data about our ocean key to responsible offshore energy development, but reliable energy technologies are also needed to power the very instruments that collect this data. This Administration is committed to exploring new technologies that can fully harness the power of the ocean, and DOE is excited to support American innovators driving this mission.โ€

โ€œIn addition to the numerous economic, national security, and environmental benefits that come from a better understanding of our natural resources, exploring the mysteries of the sea can also inspire the next generation of scientists in the fields of physics, biology, geology, chemistry, math and engineering,โ€ said retired Navy Rear Adm. Tim Gallaudet, Ph.D., Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and Deputy Administrator, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

For a fact sheet on the Presidential Memorandum, click here.

Trumpโ€™s pick to head White House science office gets good reviews

August 2, 2018 โ€” The long wait for a White House science adviser is over. President Donald Trump announced today that he intends to nominate meteorologist Kelvin Droegemeier, a university administrator and former vice-chair of the governing board of the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), to be director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). The OSTP director traditionally, but not always, also holds the title of the presidentโ€™s science adviser.

The move caps a search process of record-setting lengthโ€”nearly 560 days, double the longest time taken by any other modern president to name an OSTP director. Many in the research community had lamented the delay. But the wait may have been worth it: Droegemeier, a respected veteran of the Washington, D.C., policymaking scene, is getting positive reviews from science and university groups.

โ€œHeโ€™s a very good pick. โ€ฆ He has experience speaking science to power,โ€ says environmental policy expert John Holdren, who served as science adviser under former President Barack Obama and is now at Harvard University. โ€œI expect heโ€™ll be energetic in defending the R&D budget and climate change research in particular.โ€

Maria Zuber, a planetary geophysicist and vice president for research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, agrees that Droegemeier will stand up for climate science. โ€œHe always has. I see no reason why he wouldnโ€™t now.โ€ But she says his style is not confrontational. โ€œHeโ€™s a good old boy. He wears cowboy boots. โ€ฆ Heโ€™s a personable guy.โ€ She adds that โ€œheโ€™s got solid conservative credentials,โ€ noting that his web page is emblazoned with โ€œGod Bless America!!!โ€

โ€œHe is an excellent choice,โ€ says Tobin Smith, vice president for policy at the Association of American Universities in Washington, D.C. โ€œHe has a strong understanding of issues of concern to research universities.โ€

โ€œKelvin is a solid scientist, excellent with people, and with deep experience with large bureaucracies,โ€ says Cliff Mass, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Washington in Seattle. โ€œA moderate voice that wonโ€™t politicize the science.โ€

Droegemeier, who has served on the faculty of The University of Oklahoma (OU) in Norman for 33 years and been the schoolโ€™s vice president for research since 2009, has long been rumored to be in the running for the OSTP job, which entails advising the president on technical issues and overseeing coordination of federal science policy. He is no stranger to Washington, D.C.; then-President George W. Bush named him to the National Science Board, which oversees NSF, in 2004, and Obama reappointed him in 2011. He served as the boardโ€™s vice-chair from 2014 to 2017.

Read the full story at Science Magazine

 

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