Public Listening Sessions of the National Ocean Council

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.  Some of the priority objectives include protecting and restoring regional ecosystems; promoting water quality and sustainable land practices; informing decisions; and improve understanding.

The Council would like the thoughts of stakeholders on the strategic action plan outlines they’ve developed. They are hosting a dozen Regional Listening Sessions at this still-early stage of the drafting process.  The strategic action plan outlines are released for a 30-day public comment period during which you will have the chance to offer input 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:

• 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-5:00pm (Ocean Shores, WA, Quinault Beach Resort and Casino)
• June 30, 1:00pm-5:00pm (San Francisco Bay Area, CA, TBD)    
• June 30, 10:00am-5:00pm (West Long Branch, NJ, Monmouth University)
• July 1, Time TBD (Portland, OR, Portland State University)

You can read the outlines of the action plans and submit comments directly at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/oceans/sap.