Tag Archives: Department of the Interior
Eye-opening report by NOAA on fisheries and offshore wind farms
Offshore wind-energy installations “wind farms” are expanding along the East Coast of the United States as a way to increase the use of renewable energy, but these installations are not without their own significant impacts on marine resources and their associated fisheries. They have innocuous-sounding names such as Revolution Wind, Sunrise Wind, Mayflower Wind Phase 1 and Park City Wind. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is the federal agency responsible for offshore-energy exploration and development in the US. To date, BOEM has leased approximately 1.7 million acres in the northeast and mid-Atlantic US outer continental shelf for offshore wind development, with approximately 25 active leases from Cape Cod to Cape Hatteras. And in late August, BOEM and the Department of the Interior announced that they will hold the first offshore wind-energy lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico. >>click to read<< 10:30
OFFSHORE WIND OPPONENTS NEED A MASS PROTEST IN WASHINGTON DC – BY JIM LOVGREN
In 2010 and 2012 fishermen held two different successful protests in Washington DC with thousands of fishermen travelling from around the country to attend. Both commercial and recreational fishermen voiced their concerns regarding catch shares and Magnuson Act reauthorization, among the multitude of issues that threatened their livelihoods. Today, the fishing industry is facing a far worse enemy then fishery management, as thousands of square miles of their historic fishing grounds have been auctioned off to the highest bidder in order to make way for the wildlife killing machines called wind turbines. These auctions have been held by BOEM, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, a part of the Department of the Interior. They are charged with the selling or leasing of US natural resources in our offshore waters, and apparently, they have absolutely no regard for any wildlife that may exist within them, or any people who might derive a living from catching said wildlife. >click to read< 11:50
Advocacy Groups Demand Transparent Investigation into Deaths of Six Endangered Whales
Calling the deaths of six endangered whales that have washed up in 33 days on the beaches of New Jersey and New York “alarming and environmentally harmful,” local, state and regional ocean advocacy groups are calling for President Joe Biden to immediately address the unprecedented trend. “The noise from the offshore wind vessel is a potential cause of the recent whale stranding and increased near-shore sightings,” said Bob Stern, president of Save LBI, a nonprofit, non-partisan coalition opposed to the placement of offshore wind farms off Long Beach Island. “The beached whales bear no sign of vessel strike or fishing gear entanglement, leaving natural causes or noise as the potential causes and raising the likelihood that our concerns were well-founded.” >click to read< 16:03
Biden’s lavish lobster dinner doesn’t change his hostility to seafood industry
Bob Vanasse, executive director of Saving Seafood, commended Golden for calling out Biden on the issue and said that his organization has had trouble meeting with the current administration. Vanasse said that it’s not just lobster, but other seafood industries like tuna and swordfish, are having issues meeting with the White House. “I applaud the congressman for calling out the administration’s hypocrisy when it comes to our domestic fisheries and their policies,” “This is not the first time that something like this has happened, but it is good to see, and particularly a Democrat pointing it out because this administration has frankly not been friendly or helpful to our domestic fishing industry,” >click to read< 20:02
President Biden’s plan to save the oceans
FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Celebrates World Ocean Day with Actions to Conserve America’s Deepest Atlantic Canyon, Cut Plastic Pollution, and Create America’s First-Ever Ocean Climate Action Plan – >click to read< The following two bullet points are from the Whitehouse Press Release today. Commentary by Nils Stolpe, >click to read< 13:07
Windfarm plans for Atlantic coast hit fishermen hard and threaten US food supply
Tom Williams, a lifelong fisherman whose sons now captain the family’s two boats, doesn’t scare easily—not after the storms, regulations and economic ups and downs he’s weathered. But the wind farms planned for much of the nation’s Atlantic coastline do scare him. His own extended family began fishing in Rhode Island in 1922. “What’s going to be left for my grandchildren?” he asks. “It’s a way of life, and this is the biggest threat we’ve faced.” >click to read< 21:00
PCFFA Reacts to News of Jeopardy Finding for Salmon, Southern Resident Killer Whales
As reported today in the LA Times, the National Marine Fisheries Service determined in an important draft biological opinion [link to the document here] that the changes to California’s Central Valley Project (CVP) and State Water Project (SWP) operations championed by the Department of the Interior would result in jeopardy to spring and winter run Chinook salmon, steelhead trout, and southern resident killer whales (SRKW). The draft opinion was transmitted to the Department of the Interior, which immediately convened a team of outside lawyers and scientific staff from its own agencies to adulterate NMFS science and suppress the document’s findings. >click to read< 20:18
Offshore oil exploration: Can the average citizen make a difference?
To the average American it often seems that our elected leaders, once they get to Washington, D.C., can become somewhat hard-of-hearing to the wants and desires of the voters who sent them there. Such is the case with the recent approval of a permitting process by the National Marine Fisheries Service, which will allow seismic airgun exploration in the Atlantic Ocean off the East Coast of the United States – an activity, experts say, that is extremely hazardous for whales, dolphins, turtles, and other sea creatures. Hundreds of municipalities have already expressed formal opposition to both airgun exploration and offshore drilling, as have hundreds of state and local legislators. >click to read<13:43
Trump Is Reorganizing The Federal Government And Interior Secretary Zinke Loves It
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday to reorganize the federal government, a welcome move for Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke as he attempts to restructure the Department of the Interior (DOI). Trump’s order directs the Office of Management and Budget to suggest ways to consolidate the federal government, streamlining agencies and repositioning some under departments more closely aligned with each agency’s responsibilities, according to a White House statement. Zinke is currently making plans to reorganize his own department, but those plans have been complicated by agencies that he has no control over. For example, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) >click to read<11:31
A new push to deregulate America’s oceans and backcountry
Recent decisions at the Interior and Commerce departments are opening the doors for more commercial exploitation of US fisheries and land resources. Advocates say the changes finally allow local voices to be heard. Critics say science is being ignored in favor of industry.,, But while these lands and waters may belong to every American, some feel particularly invested, including the roughnecks, loggers, fishermen, hunters, snowmobilers, and miners who eke out tough livings from rough but beautiful surroundings. Many of them, like New Hampshire boat owner, biologist, and former fishery council member Ellen Goethel, have watched resources grow increasingly off-limits under what she calls a “one-size-fits-all” conservation approach implemented by the Obama administration. >click to read< 11:48
Storm brews over Maine’s monument offshore, too
Zinke has recommended that the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument – a 4,913-square-mile area of underwater canyons, thousand-year-old coral forests, and volcanic mountains on and beyond the southern edge of Georges Bank at the mouth of the Gulf of Maine – be opened to commercial fishing, a move proponents say would defeat its purpose.,, The heads of eight of the nation’s fisheries management councils – the industry-led bodies that implement fisheries regulations in federal waters – were already on record against the commercial fishing restrictions.,, Peter Shelley of the Conservation Law Foundation, an environmental attorney who is watching the case closely, strongly disagrees. click here to read the story 08:35
Bi-Partisan Opposition: East Coast Republicans join Democrats to lobby Trump against Atlantic oil exploration
State and federal lawmakers from both parties have joined East Coast business interests to convince the Trump administration to halt its plan for fossil fuel development in the Atlantic Ocean. It’s a surprisingly diverse collection of power players: members of Congress, dozens of lawmakers from both red and blue states, nine attorneys general, six governors and thousands of business owners from Florida through the Carolinas and up to New Jersey. They hope that mix and their economic, not environmental, argument will sway President Donald Trump’s Interior Department as it nears a decision on testing that could open the door to oil and gas exploration, and eventually drilling, off the coast. click here to read the story 18:14
Opposition to Atlantic Siesmic Blasting – The Bipartisan Fight for Quieter Oceans
Last night, to celebrate the fourth of July, the air over the U.S. filled with fireworks. The noise they created was extremely loud and, mercifully, brief. But imagine having to listen to even louder explosions once every ten seconds, for days or weeks on end. Starting this fall, that may be the new reality for whales, fish, and other marine life off the eastern seaboard, if the Trump administration’s plans go ahead. Following the president’s executive order to open the Atlantic to offshore drilling, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is set to permit five companies to begin seismic airgun blasting—an old but controversial technique for detecting reserves of oil and gas.,,, It is easy to paint environmental issues as fights between moralizing tree-huggers and hard-working business-owners. But the opposition to airgun testing transcends such caricatures. “There is no separation between the interests of environmentalists and the business community,” says Knapp, whose bipartisan organization represents 41,000 businesses and 500,000 commercial fishing families who oppose seismic testing. click here to read the story 17:34
Department of the Interior to auction over 79,000 acres offshore New York for wind development
U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Director Abigail Ross Hopper announced that 79,350 acres offshore New York will be offered in a December 15 commercial wind-lease sale. The New York Wind Energy Area starts approximately 11.5 nautical miles (nm) from Jones Beach, NY. From its western edge, the area extends approximately 24 nm southeast at its longest portion. The lease area consists of five full Outer Continental Shelf blocks and 143 sub-blocks. After reviewing comments received on the Environmental Assessment, BOEM removed about 1,780 acres from the lease area due to environmental concerns regarding a seafloor feature known as the Cholera Bank. In a comment letter, the National Marine Fisheries Service identified the Cholera Bank feature as a sensitive habitat to be avoided for the placement of structures. As a result of this removal, the revised lease area will be approximately two percent smaller than the lease area considered in the Proposed Sale Notice. Read the rest here 13:55
U.S. Backs Away From Offshore Arctic Drilling
On Friday, the Department of the Interior announced the cancellation of two potential lease sales off the Alaskan coast in the . The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement also denied lease extension requests from two companies, Shell and Statoil, that were exploring the seas for fossil fuels. Read the rest here 21:47
Federal Offshore Leasing: Another ‘No’ For Energy – Robert Bradley Jr.
Is the Department of the Interior’s new offshore energy proposal a long-needed step toward unlocking the public domain’s vast oil and gas resources? After all, the five-year plan would authorize 14 leases for oil and gas development, mostly off of the Southeast Atlantic and Gulf coasts, which led to fussing from the Don’t Drill, Baby, Don’t Drill lobby. Read the rest here 19:52
NOAA appoints members to Marine Protected Areas Federal Advisory Committee
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), in consultation with the Department of the Interior, has appointed ten new members to the Marine Protected Areas (MPA) Federal Advisory Committee. The 20-member committee is composed of individuals with diverse backgrounds and experience who advise the departments of commerce and the interior on ways,,, Read the rest here 19:20
After a long battle, Drake’s Bay Oyster Co. packs it in
On Dec. 31, after a long battle with the National Park Service, the California Coastal Commission, the Department of the Interior and wilderness advocates, owner Kevin Lunny and his family will vacate the starkly beautiful Drake’s Estero, a 2,500-acre estuary where some of the tastiest oysters on the West Coast have been farmed for more than half a century. Read the rest here
Department of the Interior, Obama, consider sanctions over Iceland’s whaling
Iceland may face trade sanctions after U.S. officials formally declared that the island nation’s whaling is undermining an international ban on commercial trade in whale products. “Killing endangered fin whales is not only brutal, it’s short-sighted,” said Taryn Kiekow Heimer of the Natural Resources Defence Council. “Iceland should not be allowed to ignore the fact that, regardless of some temporary financial reward, this practice is simply unsustainable and cruel,” she said. Read more@ smh,com 08:10
Sonoma takes unexpected stand on Drakes Bay Oyster Co. following former Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s order to close the farm
Situated about 50 miles from Drakes Estero in Marin County, the landlocked city of Sonoma would seem an unlikely place to take a stand in an oyster company’s fight for survival. But colorful signs supporting the Drakes Bay Oyster Co. have popped up all over town, and the Sonoma City Council on Monday unanimously adopted a resolution calling on state and federal legislators to intervene on the company’s behalf. continued
House members blast Brown’s Bay Delta Conservation Plan – A real fish killer!
Five members of Congress (all Democrats) held a news conference in Sacramento this morning to renew their staunch opposition to the Bay Delta Conservation Plan proposed by 
Gov. Jerry Brown and the U.S. Department of the Interior. continued
Loud Seismic Tests Probed for Harm to Whales, Dolphins – ENGO Coalition Forces Government Agency’s
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana, May 15, 2013 (ENS) – The U.S. federal agency that oversees offshore oil exploration will analyze the effects of noisy underwater seismic blasts on whales and dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico. The BOEM and its predecessor, the Minerals Management Service, have allowed exploratory seismic surveys to go ahead without permits. The groups contend this omission violates the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act. continued
Drakes Bay Oyster Company fighting for the survival – federal agencies purposefully manipulated and misrepresented scientific data
townhall.com – Despite the President’s pledge, the government officials involved in the decision to close the doors of DBOC were persuaded by science that was manipulated by several government agencies – the Marine Mammal Commission, the U.S. Geological SurveyService, the U.S. Geological Survey and the Department of the Interior. All of these agencies lack significant oversight, accountability, and transparency, and as a result have gone unchecked in their manipulation of data. continued
Letters to the editor: Keep East Coast free of drilling – Hadley Wingate
Hadley fails to make a critical connection regarding U S Interior’s “Smart from the Start”, All of he Above” strategy. Knowing that view could possibly change by allowing oil companies to drill for oil off the East Coast breaks m
y heart. The Department of the Interior will make a ruling sometime this year on whether to allow oil companies to conduct seismic air gun testing off the East Coast. That testing is a process where air guns blast compressed air into the ocean…..Our best option to help preserve our oceans while meeting our energy needs is to switch over to clean renewable energy sources like offshore wind power that will protect our marine mammals and coastal communities. continued
