Welcome to Ocean Watch; a weekly recap of federal and regional
actions that impact the coastal and marine water quality and ecosystems of the
Mid-Atlantic Ocean. Clean Ocean Action will aggregate and analyze these
actions, and signify the impact and threat level to the Mid-Atlantic using
color coding – Red is a high level threat, orange is intermediate, yellow is a
caution, and green would be a positive action. While many of these actions have
taken place in Washington DC, and don’t affect the mid-Atlantic directly, the
direction of national energy, climate, and regulatory policy will have
implications and impacts for the mid-Atlantic region.
Mid-Atlantic
Ocean Watch – Week 7
NOAA
Funding Chop
According to an
inter-administration memo obtained by the Washington post, the Trump
Administration will seek to cut the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration’s budget by 17 percent, specifically focusing deep cuts to research funding
and satellite programs. Budget cuts would also eliminate funding for numerous
other NOAA programs including grants for external research, coastal management,
estuary reserves, and “coastal resilience”. NOAA’s Office of Oceanic and
Atmospheric Research would lose $126 million, or 26 percent, of the funds it
has under the current budget. Its satellite data division would lose $513
million, or 22 percent, of its current funding under the proposal.
The National
Marine Fisheries Service and National Weather Service would be fortunate by
comparison, facing only 5 percent cuts, however, ask most fisheries
scientists, and they will tell you that their programs were already underfunded
significantly. In the Mid-Atlantic region, NOAA funding goes directly toward
sea level rise adaptation, fisheries science, estuary programs, nonpoint source
pollution abatement, and much more. Not to mention, our coastal communities
have a vested interest in federal funding for satellites and research for
climate and meteorological data. Finally, another proposed cut would eliminate
a $73 million program called Sea Grant, which supports coastal research
conducted through 33 university programs across the country. NJ Sea Grant has
invested in coastal nonpoint control, and the maintenance of pump out stations
for boats to empty their marine heads; a critical investment for our heavily
used coastal waters.
Coast
Guard Budget Cuts Too!
In stark contrast to the Trump Administration’s proposed budget
increase of 9.2 percent ($54 Billion increase) in Defense spending, this
military buildup will not apply to the US Coast Guard. In fact, the Coast Guard
is being targeted for a roughly 10 percent budget cut according to documents
from the Office of Management and Budget.
The US Coast Guard is continually underfunded and undermanned,
with a total force of 56,000 (slightly larger than NYC’s police department)
tasked with protecting the 95,000 miles of American coastline, and responsible
for rapid response on issues ranging from navigational safety, shipping related
pollution and discharge monitoring, oil spill monitoring and response, drug
smuggling, illegal immigration, vessel rescue and response, among many other
services. It is unclear how President
Trump can justify a cut to such an essential branch of Government whose
services are overwhelmingly geared toward protecting domestic interests.
EPA
Administrator is a Fossil Fuel Industry Parrot
On Thursday, Scott Pruitt, the new chief at the Environmental
Protection Agency, and NOT a scientist himself, took a line right from the
fossil fuel industry’s playbook and issued the newer, softer form of climate
denialism that has been making its rounds within the Trump Administration.
Pruitt said measuring the
effect of human activity on the climate is "very challenging" and
that "there's tremendous disagreement about the degree of impact" of
carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. This is of course false, as over 97%
of scientists working in the climate field agree that the climate is warming,
and that warming is overwhelmingly due to human caused emissions of greenhouse
gases. This has not been a serious scientific debate in over 30 years, and
Pruitt’s statement is at odds with the overwhelming scientific consensus, the
very agency he oversees, as well as NASA and NOAA, and of course, reality.
Consider:
·
NASA and NOAA
reported in January that earth's 2016 temperatures were the warmest ever. The
planet's average surface temperature has risen about 2 degrees Fahrenheit since
the late 19th century, "a change driven largely by increased carbon
dioxide and other human-made emissions into the atmosphere," the agencies
said in a joint statement.
·
The EPA says on
its website that "carbon dioxide is the primary greenhouse gas that is
contributing to recent climate change." The agency notes that human
activities, such as the burning of fossil fuels, "release large amounts of
CO2, causing concentrations in the atmosphere to rise."
·
New Jersey just experienced
the warmest February on record, with a statewide average temperature just
one degree below the typical average for March. Numerous other Cities and
States throughout the region and country experienced the warmest February
and/or warmest February day ever recorded as well.
Lobbyists in the Swamp
While the high profile nominations get much of the press and publicity (along with Senate confirmation votes) the Trump Administration has also quietly moved to fill the hundreds of lower level government positions. ProPublica recently published a list of 400 or so lower level “beach head” positions meant to implement the Trump Administration’s agenda and report on agency activities.
Most relevant to COA’s work in advocating for stronger clean water and environmental protections, is the number of former lobbyists from industry appointed to work in agencies that directly regulate their former professions. This conflict of interest was a key reason Trump campaigned on banning former lobbyists. However the ProPublica list proves otherwise, as they “found at least 36 (former lobbysits), spanning industries from health insurance and pharmaceuticals to construction, energy and finance. Many of them lobbied in the same areas that are regulated by the agencies they have now joined.” According to ProPublica, that number is also probably a vast underestimate, as they included those who formally registered as lobbyists, a process increasingly avoided by many in Washington. See the full list at: https://projects.propublica.org/graphics/beachhead
The Gulf of Mexico is a Sacrifice
Zone
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke today announced that the Department will offer 73 million acres offshore Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida for oil and gas exploration and development. The proposed region-wide lease sale scheduled for August 16, 2017 would include all available unleased areas in federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico. For comparison sake, New Jersey is a hair under 4.5 million acres.
The Gulf of Mexico continues to support heavy fossil fuel extraction activities, including routine and accidental discharges, spills, and leaks, as well as disruptive exploration activities. In a region heavily impacted by sea level rise and storm surge, the continued sacrifice of this amazing bioregion to the fossil fuel industry is self-defeating, and a clear warning to all those on the Atlantic Coast that a clean ocean economy does not mix with fossil fuel extraction.
Next
Week
Next week, sources have indicated that the Trump Administration is
expected to sign an Executive Order targeting the Clean Power Plan – President
Obama’s signature climate change regulations aimed at curbing greenhouse gas
emissions from coal-fired power plants. This will be a lengthy process of withdrawing
and rewriting these rules complete with notice and comment opportunities.
In the coming weeks, Trump is also expected to
begin the process of overturning President Obama’s moratorium on new federal
coal leases on public land, automobile vehicle efficiency standards, United
Nation climate program funding, and potentially withdrawing the US from the
200-nation Paris Climate Agreement (a step that would undermine the
international effort to confront global climate change).
The irony: New Jersey just
experienced the warmest February on record, with a statewide average
temperature just
one degree below the typical average for March. Numerous other Cities and
States throughout the region and country experienced the warmest February
and/or warmest February day ever recorded as well.
YOUR VOICE IS NEEDED!
·
The executive
orders and congressional actions of the last week have reinforced how vital it
is that every citizen engage with their elected officials. In this day and age
of instant communication, there is no excuse for not contacting your elected
officials. Use the links below to find your representatives and let them know
how important clean water and strong environmental protections are.
o
Federal:
o
State Level:
§
For NJ residents,
contact your State Senate and Assembly Representatives: http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/districts/njmap210.html
§
For NY residents,
contact your State Senate and Assembly Representatives: http://www.elections.ny.gov/district-map/district-map.html
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