Share Your Ideas with the National Ocean Council at a Listening Session Near You

Experts from the National Ocean Council’s 27 Federal agencies and offices have been busy drafting strategic action plans to achieve nine national priority objectives that address some of the most pressing challenges facing our ocean, coasts, and Great Lakes.  Having already received your initial comments before we got started, we’d now like to hear from you again—this time with your thoughts on the strategic action plan outlines we’ve developed. That’s why we’re hosting a dozen Regional Listening Sessions at this still-early stage of the drafting process.  The strategic action plan outlines will be released in early June for a 30-day public comment period during which you will have the chance to chime in at one of the 12 Regional Listening Sessions or via the Web through a public comment portal.

Here are the dates and locations for the listening sessions:

• DATE, LOCATION, VENUE
• June 9, 6:00pm-8:30pm
  Washington, DC, Women’s Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery 
• June 9, 4:00pm-9:00pm
  Barrow, AK, North Slope Borough Offices            
• June 10, 4:00pm-9:00pm
  Anchorage, AK, Wilda Marston Theatre, Z. J. Loussac Library
• June 13, 1:00pm-5:00pm
  Chicago, IL, U.S. EPA Regional Headquarters     
• June 15, 5:00pm-9:00pm
  Jacksonville, FL, University of North Florida
• June 16, 1:00pm-4:00pm
  Honolulu, HI, The Neal Blaisdell Center      
• June 27, 11:30am-3:00pm
  Exeter, NH, Exeter High School                
• June 27, 5:00pm-8:30pm
  Galveston, TX, Galveston Convention Center                       
• June 27, 8:30am-4:30pm
  Ocean Shores, WA, Quinault Beach Resort and Casino    
• June 30, 1:00pm-5:00pm
  San Francisco Bay Area, CA, Hilton Union Square          
• June 30, 10:00am-5:00pm
  West Long Branch, NJ, Monmouth University 
• July 1, 9:00am-1:00pm
  Portland, OR, Portland State University

Identifying the critical actions our national stewardship requires will take cooperation across all levels of government and stakeholder communities. Stay tuned for more information on how to comment on these outlines, and we hope to see you at one of the listening sessions!

Andy Lipsky is an Ocean Policy Advisor at the National Ocean Council