Obama Administration Cabinet Secretaries and Senior Officials Convene for First Meeting of the National Ocean Council

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                                                                             

November 9, 2010                                                                                                                      

Obama Administration Cabinet Secretaries and Senior Officials
Convene for First Meeting of the National Ocean Council

WASHINGTON – The White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) and the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) today convened the first Principals meeting of the National Ocean Council in the Roosevelt Room of the White House.  The meeting, attended by 25 Cabinet Secretaries and Senior Officials from across the Federal Government, focused on key steps to implement the National Policy for the Stewardship of the Ocean, our Coasts, and Great Lakes. Groundwork for the meeting was laid at an inaugural Deputy Committee meeting held in September that, as with today’s meeting, was led by the Council co-chairs, OSTP Director John P. Holdren and CEQ Chair Nancy Sutley.

President Obama signed Executive Order 13547 on July 19, 2010, establishing our Nation’s first comprehensive, integrated National Policy for the Stewardship of the Ocean, our Coasts, and Great Lakes.  The Executive Order created the Cabinet-level National Ocean Council to coordinate across the Federal Government to implement the National Policy. The Principals meeting of the National Ocean Council was a critical starting point to begin to address the ambitious set of actions the National Policy lays out over the next 12 months. 

During the meeting, the Council:

• Reviewed the role of the National Ocean Council and the work ahead;
• Approved the National Ocean Council charter;
• Approved operational items for establishing a Governance Coordinating Committee to formally engage with state, tribal, and local authorities;
• Approved the charter for the U.S. Extended Continental Shelf (ECS) Task Force for it to continue to coordinate the collection of information to establish the full extent of the continental shelf of the United States in accordance with international law; and
• Established Interagency Working Groups to address topics including information management and communications and public and stakeholder engagement.

For more information, please visit: http://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/oceans.

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