White House Announces $9.6 Million for Regional Ocean Partnerships
The Department of Commerce and NOAA on Friday announced $9.6 million in funding is available through four established Regional Ocean Partnerships and five Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) Regional Associations. The funding supports cross-jurisdictional priorities and data sharing that address the most pressing ocean and coastal management issues within each region. This investment is part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda and funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act.Regional Ocean Partnerships are organizations that are voluntarily convened by coastal states working in
18 Ocean Experts Named to Federal Panel
from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, ocean industries, state, tribal, territorial or local governments and academia.The Ocean Policy Committee (OPC) solicited nominations from the public through a Federal Register Notice and members were appointed by the Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality, who co-chair of the interagency OPC.“Formation of the Ocean Research Advisory Panel is a major milestone for U.S. ocean science and policy, and reinforces the President’s historic commitments
Inside the Subsea Cable Firm Secretly Helping America Take on China
;s SubCom, Japan’s NEC Corporation, France’s Alcatel Submarine Networks and China’s HMN Tech.For sensitive U.S. projects, Washington only works with SubCom, according to five industry sources who have worked on projects with the cable company.The U.S. Department of Defense and the White House did not respond to requests for comment.Picking sidesUntil a U.S. crackdown on Chinese tech companies ramped up five years ago, SubCom laid cables for telecom and tech companies worldwide, including the big state-owned Chinese carriers.Not anymore. The cable firm now works almost exclusively for
New Intelligence Points to Pro-Ukraine Group in Nord Stream Attack
last month that their investigations have not yet concluded. The United States and Britain said on Tuesday they were waiting on those findings."We need to let these investigations conclude and only then should we be looking at what follow-on actions might or may not be appropriate," said White House spokesperson John Kirby.Germany said on Tuesday it had taken note of the New York Times report but that its own investigation had not yet produced results. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson both declined to comment on the New York Times report during
Report: Russia to Mothball Damaged Nord Stream Gas Pipelines
, which also owns a stake in Nord Stream AG, said: "To our knowledge as a minority shareholder, no decision has been made, either for or against restoring the line."WHO BLEW UP THE PIPELINES?Moscow has maintained, without providing evidence, that the West was behind the blasts. Last month the White House dismissed as "complete fiction" a blog post by U.S. investigative journalist Seymour Hersh alleging that Washington was responsible.Investigations by Denmark, Germany, and Sweden have not yet been concluded.Nord Stream 1 had anyway been idle since late August, when it was shut for maintenance
Blue Economy Contributes $361 Billion to US GDP
(adjusted for inflation) from 2019, outpacing the general economy’s decline of 3.4%.“President Biden infused infrastructure funding into this sector precisely because of the marine economy’s immense value and potential for strengthening our nation,” said Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., White House Office of Science and Technology Policy deputy director for climate and environment. “The health of the ocean economy depends on the health of the ocean. President Biden has asked us to include natural capital in our evaluation of the ocean’s contribution to the economy, and to take
Geotechnical, Marine, and Coastal Design Solutions for Marshaling Ports to meet US Offshore Wind Power Policy Targets
As reported in a Maritime Reporter and Engineering News February 2022 article, Offshore Wind Development Gains Speed in the United States, the offshore wind (OSW) market is beginning to heat up. The White House policy target of 30 GW of offshore wind power by 2030, increasing the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM’s) leasing awards, and permitting target approval dates, together with more state energy procurement awards, are creating demand for more port infrastructure, Jones Act compliant vessels, and manufacturing facilities for wind farm components. Recently a study (Parkison
U.S. Offshore Wind Forecast: 45 Projects, $136B CapEx
authorities in 2010 and revisions further approved in 2014. However, in the face of objections to the wind farm, Cape Wind relinquished the lease in 2017.In 2021, three things changed and have created a more solid foundation for the U.S. offshore wind industry.The first piece of the jigsaw was the White House initiative released in March 2021 to “catalyze offshore wind energy, strengthen the domestic supply chain, and create good-paying, union jobs”. The White House program included an offshore wind deployment target of 30 GW by 2030 and an aspiration to achieve 110 GW of offshore wind
Opinion: A Call for the USNS Walter Munk to Honor America’s Greatest Oceanographer
Plan to map and explore our oceans, as well as similar efforts to add new and expand existing marine protected areas (MPAs), address marine plastic pollution, combat coral disease, and advance ocean science and technology. Walter’s legacy with Scripps also made notable contributions to the 2019 White House Summit on Ocean Science and Technology Partnerships, which spurred the signing of a trove of agreements between NOAA and partner organizations to move forward in areas such as ocean mapping, exploration, science, public understanding, countering illegal fishing, conserving coral reefs, and expanding
February 2024
