[DLCD_OceanPolicy] Ocean Planning Update

[Ocean Policy Advisory Council]

All:  With an OPAC meeting just around the corner, and another legislative session on the horizon, we thought it timely to catch up on what's happening at the national, regional, and statewide level regarding ocean planning etc., that may be of interest to you.  This summary update covers activities related to planning for ocean alternative energy (wave energy), marine reserves, marine spatial planning (MSP), the West Coast Governors Agreement, and other activities that you may be aware of and\or involved.  Note: This memo is not intended as all-inclusive or detailed description, but rather a high altitude look at moving parts as we know them now.  Things are changing all the time and we're not attempting to represent all the activities that may be associated with what is loosely defined as marine spatial planning, marine renewable energy or ocean research.  So, please don't get too excited if we didn't characterize any particular situation as you may understand it to be, our intent is simply to be informative.

Ocean Alternative Energy Planning
Status: The Coastal Management Program in DLCD is two and a half years down the road toward completing a state plan for siting and developing ocean alternative energy facilities in state ocean waters (Territorial Sea).  Coastal Program staff are working with fishermen and communities, various federal and state agencies, NGOs, and industry at the direction of a March 2008 Governor's Executive Order.  The state also has a Memorandum of Agreement with FERC about using the plan for federal decision-making, which has been instrumental in convincing fishermen that the state plan (and their involvement) will have clout.

Phase 1 of planning is complete.  Policies, standards, and procedures have been amended into the Territorial Sea Plan.  That took about 18 months and involved a wide variety of stakeholders, OPAC and its' Territorial Sea Plan Work Group, and the LCDC Territorial Sea Plan Advisory Committee.  In the end, there was near unanimous support of Part 5 of the TSP for marine renewable energy development that was adopted by the Land Conservation and Development Commission in November 2009. More recently, we witnessed the culmination of the 3-year "settlement process" with Ocean Power Technologies, stakeholders, state and federal agencies to approve placement of 10 wave energy buoys off the mouth of the Umpqua River.  We learned a lot during that process about the needs of the energy industry, concerns of stakeholders, and potential effects of power generation facilities in the marine environment which was used in the development of the TSP amendment.  That Settlement Agreement was recently signed, and OPT is currently on the path to obtain state and federal regulatory permissions for phases 1 and 2 at Reedsport.

Phase 2, the spatial planning component, is well underway although there is a ways to go. Mapping where energy development may or may not be allowed is of most interest to all parties.  To prepare for this work, we've worked closely with OCZMA, Ecotrust, and Extension Sea Grant (ESG), and the local fishery advisory groups for more than two years.  OCZMA and ESG worked with the local fishery groups to enable commercial fishermen to meet one-on-one with a technical team from Ecotrust to map the areas they fish.  At a recent point in time, 244 commercial fishermen (representing more than half the landed value in all ports), 63 charter boat operators, and 237 recreational fishermen from Astoria to Brookings had met with the Ecotrust team to map where they fish by species.  Ecotrust is now working with these fishery organizations to finalize maps that synthesize individual information and show areas and species important to each port.  These maps will be in GIS format for use with other data in the spatial planning.  We are waiting for ecological and habitat data from ODFW and its partner, The Nature Conservancy, as well as results from the 2009-2010 seafloor mapping work funded by NOAA and the 2009 state legislature.  ODFW is also conducting a socio-economic study of several coastal communities to assist us in understanding the impact of ocean uses on local economies.  In addition, Surfrider is completing its project on non-consumptive recreational uses that will provide another valuable spatial data set to consider. All of this data and spatial information will be added to an already substantial amount of in-house data on nearshore conditions and existing uses that will be used by our data management gurus to support the decision-making process.  We won't claim to have all the information everyone would like or that the data is perfect, but we are confident it's enough for us to apply the standards of the TSP and Goal 19 in conducting the spatial analysis, and there's nothing to prevent us making changes in the future should new data or circumstances require it.

Next Steps: We are working with Ecotrust to create on-line computer tools (Oregon MarineMap) that will enable us to use all the data we are collecting to perform spatial "what-if" scenarios during community workshops (this work is funded as a result of Rep. Boone's HB3633).  We will be asking OPAC for permission to start working with local communities sometime in the spring as well as convene necessary advisory committees via OPAC and LCDC as we did in Phase 1.  We hope to wrap up the spatial planning by the end of 2011, although it may take longer.  We expect OCZMA and ESG to continue to be strongly engaged in that process.  Our goal is to give predictability to everyone: fishermen, the ocean energy industry, local communities, conservation organizations, state and federal agencies, and other ocean users.  However, the policies and standards adopted under Part 5 of the TSP in Phase 1 will enable us to add conditions and apply adaptive management to future development proposals in order to "learn-by-doing" without irreparable harm.

Joint State-Federal planning:  We are working with Dept of the Interior Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEMRE) and the Governor's Office to create a local/state/federal task force to extend state planning efforts into federal waters. It is clear to us that a cooperative planning effort for the federal ocean area will benefit the fishermen and coastal communities because it will ensure that BOEMRE uses the information we have been working on and will take advantage of the community-based planning process we will be going through.  Plus, it means that coastal communities will not have to endure yet another planning effort.  BOEMRE has used the task force approach with about 10 states on the East Coast to plan for offshore wind energy development.  Because of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, this will not be a stakeholder "advisory committee" but rather will be a task force of key local, state, and federal agencies to iron out issues of where and how ocean energy projects will be sited and approved in federal waters.   We will find other ways to make sure that the interests of our stakeholders are represented in the task force process.

Funding for ocean energy planning:  Where's the money come from for all this?  We've been opportunistic in scraping together funds from a variety of sources including our federal Coastal Zone Management grant, state funds from the Oregon Wave Energy Trust and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (per HB3633), and funds from private foundations that have directly supported projects to provide data and engage stakeholders.  Everyone is digging deep and somehow, we have been able to make it work.  We will take full advantage of any funding opportunities or assistance that may become available through our federal partners.

Legislative action:  No legislation will be needed to implement the ocean energy plan.  It will be adopted by the Land Conservation and Development Commission as an amendment to the Territorial Sea Plan as per ORS 196.471.

Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center (NNMREC):  NNMREC has hired contractors to design the mobile ocean test berth and to conduct the NEPA analysis for its deployment.  NNMREC has not yet finalized a decision on the location, dimensions or configuration of the site it would need for its facilities in the area north of the Newport inlet.


Marine Reserves
Status:   The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) is rounding the corner and headed for home in an 18-month process directed by the 2009 Legislature to work with community teams to evaluate three potential marine reserve sites proposed by the Ocean Policy Advisory Council in 2008 at Cape Falcon (Cannon Beach), Cascade Head (Lincoln City), and Cape Perpetua (Yachats).  A fourth site is being studied for the Cape Arago area where the Port of Coos Bay is leading the community process.  Two other pilot marine reserves, Redfish Rocks at Port Orford and Otter Rock near Depoe Bay, were designated by the 2009 legislature (ORS 196.540) with full support from the local communities.

Next Steps: The three community teams, which have met at least once a month for the past year, held final meetings the second week of November to prepare a final recommendation to ODFW.  ODFW will consult with the OPAC and its Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee by mid-December before forwarding recommended areas to the 2010 legislature along with estimates of the cost to implement them.

Legislative action:  The ODFW will be reporting to the legislature by the end of November as per ORS 196.545 and will be discussing budget-related issues.


Nearshore Research Task Force:
The NRTF (HB 3106) issued recommendations to strengthen and streamline marine research by providing mechanisms to support and coordinate planning, data management, science advice and funding, and fully integrate input from individuals with the direct expertise and investment in Oregon's nearshore environment.  The 6 interrelated recommendations are to: develop a multi-year Nearshore Strategic Plan; establish an Oregon Ocean Work Group; aid in the development of the Nearshore Strategic Plan and in long-term coordination of state activities; establish the STAC as an independent science advisory body; create an Oregon Ocean Science Trust as a non-profit 501c3 funding mechanism; ensure stakeholder involvement in all above, and; establish a coordinated data management system at OCMP.  Rep. Roblan is expected to be present legislation to implement the recommendations in the report during the next legislative session.


Marine Spatial Planning
Status:  The July 19, 2010, Presidential Executive Order on National Ocean Policy creates a National Ocean Council to pull together all federal agencies that deal with the ocean.   It also includes a directive to create a national Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning (CMSP) framework and to work at the regional level to develop regional Coastal and Marine Spatial Plans (CMSP).   This EO has set off an amazing flurry of activity, including a lot of head-scratching about how this will actually be done.  We think that once the dust settles, Oregon will benefit from this initiative and it will strengthen what we have been trying for 20 years to achieve with state ocean planning and management.

CMSP Status in Oregon:  We are already doing so-called CMPS through our planning for ocean alternative energy and for marine reserves.  Oregon has a very robust policy and process framework for ocean planning and is rapidly gaining capacity for the technical aspects of the spatial planning component.  We are confident that our current planning work will create a good model for how regional marine spatial planning ought to done.  We anticipate that our work will be enhanced at the regional scale through a task force with BOEMRE and other federal agencies as described above.  In the meantime, we are working with the Governor's office and the West Coast Governor's Agreement(WCGA) Executive Committee to figure out how all this is going to play out at the regional scale on the West Coast.

West Coast Governors Agreement
FY10 $500K Appropriation:  DLCD received approval from the legislative Emergency Board in September to receive about $500K that West Coast Congressional delegation had successfully inserted into NOAA's FY10 budget to help the WCGA to carry out work identified in its regional Action Plan.  The DLCD is acting as the grant recipient on behalf of the WCGA (due to NOAA Grants constraints) but has entered into a Cooperative Agreement with the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission which will actually manage the funds for various projects that were selected via a proposal process.  The grant became effective October 1 for one year.  DLCD worked with the WCGA Executive Committee and the PSMFC staff to conduct its proposal process prior to that date so that selected projects could start immediately.

FY11 $1.0MM Appropriation Request: The WCGA has again sought to insert an appropriation of $1,000,000 in the FY11 NOAA budget to support continued implementation of the Action Plan and develop a regional approach to CMSP.  In early September the Governor's Office held a telephone briefing with Congressional staff to explain the request.

FY11 $20MM for Regional Ocean Partnerships: The Administration's FY11 NOAA budget includes $20MM to support Regional Ocean Partnerships, principally to work on regional approaches to marine spatial planning.  Anticipating approval, NOAA has issued an FFO, a Federal Funding Opportunity, calling for regional-based proposals to support the National Ocean Policy and CMSP at the regional scale.  The $20MM would be awarded among nine regions specified in the Executive Order.   However, although the $20MM was approved in the House Appropriations process it was not included in the Senate subcommittee budget mark.  We understand through the Coastal States Organization that Senators Shelby and Cochran are willing to add it back on the Floor, if necessary.  The chances of an actual FY11 budget for NOAA are slim.  The post-election political dynamics around the FY11 budget likely mean that the lame-duck Congress will pass only a Continuing Resolution, without the $20MM, rather than an FY11 budget.

Next Steps: Regardless, the WCGA and all the other Regional Ocean Partnership groups around the country are working hard to meet the FFO deadline.  The WCGA Executive Committee (Jessica Keys is Governor Kulongoski's representative) is working hard to prepare a funding proposal to meet the December 10, 2010, deadline.  The WCGA is holding three workshops in mid-November: Nov 11 in San Francisco, Nov 15 in Newport, Nov 16 in Olympia to get input on the proposal work program.  The goal is to prepare an integrated proposal to help carry out actions identified in the WCGA Action Plan as to begin work to develop a regional framework for marine spatial planning as outlined in the President's Executive Order.



Robert J. Bailey | Program Manager
Oregon Coastal Management Program
Department of Land Conservation and Development
635 Capitol St. NE | Ste 150 | Salem, Oregon 97301
Desk: 503-373-0050 x 281 | Cell: 503-508-2215
bob.bailey at state.or.us<mailto:bob.bailey at state.or.us> | www.oregon.gov/lcd<http://www.oregon.gov/lcd>



Paul Klarin | Marine Program Coordinator
Coastal Division
Oregon Dept. of Land Conservation and Development
635 Capitol Street NE, Suite 150 | Salem, OR  97301-2540
Office: (503) 373-0050 ext. 249 | Cell: (503) 428-0510 | Fax: (503) 378-6033
paul.klarin at state.or.us<mailto:paul.klarin at state.or.us> | www.oregon.gov/LCD<http://www.oregon.gov/LCD>


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