ACTIONS

Immediate Actions

The West Coast Governors’ Agreement on Ocean Health called for four immediate actions. Those actions, and their current status, are:

Offshore Oil
Send a joint message to the President and Congress reinforcing our opposition to oil and gas leasing, exploration and development off our coasts.

Status: The three Governors sent a joint letter to the President and Congress on September 29, 2006.

Nonpoint Source Pollution
Call upon the President and Congress to provide secure funding to address threat of nonpoint source pollution along our coasts.

Status: The Governors sent a letter to the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees urging restoration of FY 2008 funding for the coastal nonpoint pollution control program on June 6, 2007.

Regional Research
Development of a West Coast Sea Grant Regional Research Plan for the west coast in coordination with The National Sea Grant office, academia, and other research institutions.

Status: The development of this plan is currently underway and public workshops are being held in all three states to receive input.

Federal Support
Request the White House Council on Environmental Quality to facilitate the implementation of the U.S. Ocean Action Plan, to assist the three states in requesting and receiving technical assistance from federal agencies to address issues of regional significance.

Status: The Governors sent a letter to the White House Council on Environmental Quality April 10, 2007. Council Chair James Connaughton sent reply letters on April 17, 2007.

See the Documents page of this website for copies of all letters.

Action Plan

In their Agreement the Governors also directed staff to develop a more extensive set of specific regional recommendations to address the Agreement’s priorities. Those recommendations will appear in an Action Plan that is currently under development. To obtain input to draft the plan, between April and August 2007 the states engaged stakeholders and the public through a series of public meetings. In March 2007, the states circulated a discussion paper with one page summaries of the Agreement’s priority issues and possible actions that the Governors may consider for inclusion in the final Action Plan. In October 2007, a draft Action Plan was released and the public comment period re-opened through December 1. The states considered feedback received and finalized the Action Plan. The Governors released the Action Plan on July 29, 2008.
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