Recently, three new programmatic changes at the federal
level are threatening our clean ocean economy and clean ocean zone.
1. EPA To Cut Clean
Beach Programs
First, in a shocking turn of events, the EPA announced that,
in President Obama’s 2013
EPA budget,
they will no longer be implementing the “Beaches Program” or issuing Beaches
Program grants to states.
The
Beaches Program,
under the Clean Water Act and the “BEACH Act” is a program at the
EPA for
protecting the health of swimmers and beachgoers from sewage and pollution
risks.
Each year, in furtherance of these goals, the EPA works on:
- promoting recreational water quality programs nationwide,
- creating scientific improvements that support timely
recreational water monitoring and reporting,
- issuing grants (~$10
million in 2012) to eligible coastal states to develop and implement beach
monitoring and notification programs,
- publishing an annual Beach
Notification Summary, giving information on beach water quality monitoring,
beach advisories and closings, pollution sources, and state and local beach
program contacts to the public, and
- developing new or revised recreational water criteria for
the most up-to-date protection of public health.
Unfortunately, the President’s
EPA budget
proposes ending this program:
“To help meet the
fiscal challenges of FY 2013, the EPA has reviewed its programs for areas where
any potential efficiencies and streamlining can yield savings and is eliminating
the Beach Program.”
The report continues:
“While beach monitoring
continues to be important to protect human health and especially sensitive
individuals, … [n]o additional funding will be provided for the following: (1)
implementing monitoring and notification programs consistent with the
EPA’s National Beach Guidance and Required Performance Criteria for Grants
and (2) submitting monitoring and advisory data to the EPA so that the Agency
can provide this information to the public in a timely and easily accessible
manner.”
The EPA says that the Beach Program has accomplished it’s
mission, yet without the program, many states will have no resources for any
swimmer-safety tests, states will be free to adopt lax standards (or end
testing altogether because they are no longer held to a federal regulatory “floor”),
and, by and large, the public health will be put at risk.
Please call your elected officials and ask them to stand up
for swimmer safety by re-authorizing this program to give states the science
and tools they need!
2. Renewed Atlantic
Ocean Oil Drilling Push in the House – H.R. 7
Second, the House of Representatives yesterday passed a bill
which opens up the Atlantic Ocean to oil drilling – as soon as this year! The bill, a floor-modified version of HR
3408, requires that a large portion of the ocean off of the coast of Virginia
be opened for drilling almost immediately, and that the rest of the Atlantic
Ocean be considered open for business as well.
When this bill was being debated in Committee (before
hitting the House floor), New Jersey Representatives Pallone, Holt, and Runyan all
voted against the
bill
(
roll
call votes).
Once the bill hit the House floor, one
amendment
was proposed that would ban drilling in any ocean areas that would “
affect” New York or
New Jersey - essentially banning
drilling in Virginia and points south in the Atlantic. In the vote on the amendment, 5 of New Jersey’s
6 Republican Representatives voted to pass it (Mr. Garrett was the lone NJ
Congressman voting against this ocean-protection amendment), standing with the
united Democratic NJ Delegation in defense of the shore.
For 50 years, members of Congress from both sides of the
aisle have fought to keep the Atlantic Ocean off-limits from oil drilling. With
yesterday’s vote, it is clear that this long-standing support is eroding, but in
New Jersey, our elected officials know that a clean ocean economy is a
non-partisan issue – it is too essential to the people, communities, and businesses
of the Shore.
We thank the
8 NJ and 19
NY Representatives who voted against this bill (see
Floor Vote, Roll
#71), but urge you to call your elected officials (Senators, Congressmen, State Officials) and ask them to take
every step they can to see that the opening of the Atlantic Ocean to oil
drilling doesn’t happen.
3. Proposed Closure of
the NOAA Fisheries Service James J.
Howard Marine Sciences Laboratory on
Sandy Hook
Third, President Obama
announced
in the budget proposal for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
that the James J. Howard Fisheries Lab on Sandy Hook will be closed – one year
after its 50th anniversary celebration.
The decision to close this lab could not have been made at a
more inopportune time. Our oceans, and
the Mid-Atlantic Ocean this lab directly adjoins, are changing. For the first time in decades, there may be
oil drilling in the Mid-Atlantic Ocean, most notably in Virginia. Your Department of Interior recently
announced lease availability for over 800 square miles of the Mid-Atlantic
Ocean. The shores of this region are the
most densely populated in the nation.
The fisheries, tourism, and recreation value of the Mid-Atlantic Ocean
is nearly incalculable. Algal blooms,
sewage spills, sedimentation, and the science of managing the Port of New York
all fall within the scientific ambit of this region.
The research undertaken at the Howard Lab on these issues,
and on ocean acidification and climate change impacts to marine ecosystems, are
the foundation upon which informed decisionmaking is built. Indeed, this lab
was recently recognized by NOAA leadership as
the premier state-of-the-art facility for conducting ocean acidification
research on the East Coast. Moreover,
research conducted at the lab is instrumental in ongoing planning efforts for
the siting of the first offshore wind facilities in the United States – a
priority for your Administration.
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To find out how you can help on any of these issues, contact
the Clean Ocean Action office at 732-872-0111 and ask for Zach, or email
citizens@cleanoceanaction.org.
