On December 14, President Obama’s Ocean Policy Task Force released its Interim Framework for Effective Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning (Interim Framework) for a 60-day public review and comment period.  
    The documents a comprehensive, integrated approach to planning and managing uses and activities of the oceans, coasts and Great Lakes.  Under the Framework, coastal and marine spatial planning would be regional in scope, developed cooperatively among Federal, State, tribal, local authorities, and regional governance structures, with substantial stakeholder and public input.   
    The Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force, which was established by President Obama on June 12, 2009, is led by White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Nancy Sutley, consists of 24 senior-level officials from Administration agencies, departments, and offices.
    In developing the Interim Report and Interim Framework, the Task Force undertook a robust public engagement process.  The Task Force heard from and involved stakeholders and interested parties, including holding six regional public meetings, convening 38 expert briefings, and receiving almost four thousand individual comments via the web.
    The Interim Framework includes a number of important provisions that would significantly overhaul the Federal government’s approach to coastal and marine planning, including:  
    The Interim Framework is designed to: decrease user conflicts; improve planning and regulatory efficiencies and decrease their associated costs and delays; and preserve critical ecosystem function and services.  The Interim Framework describes how such plans would be developed and implemented, and provides timeframes and steps for phased implementation of the framework.
    While many existing permitting processes include aspects of coordinated planning, most focus solely on a limited range of management tools and outcomes (e.g., oil and gas leases, fishery management plans, and marine protected areas).  Comprehensive marine spatial spatial planning presents a more integrated, comprehensive, ecosystem-based, flexible, and proactive approach to planning and managing uses and activities.
    The Interim Framework describes a new approach to Federal resource planning that is regionally based and developed cooperatively among Federal, State, tribal, and local authorities, and regional governance structures, through the establishment of nine regional planning bodies.
    Scientific data, information and knowledge, as well as relevant traditional knowledge, will be the underpinning of the regionally developed plans.
    The planning process would be fully transparent and participatory – requiring frequent and robust stakeholder engagement throughout all steps of the process (i.e., development, adoption, implementation, adaptation and evaluation).
    The impact on Minerals Management Service offshore oil leasing is thus. The new Five Year Plan will be approved by the end of 2010, and any leasing offshore Mendocino would not occur until 2014 at the earliest. State Marine Protection Areas will probably go into effect in early 2011. The regional Marine Spatial Plans would probably go into effect between those dates, requiring MMS to consult with other federal agencies, as well as states, local governments and Indian tribes before selling oil and gas leases.
    The deadline for public comment on The Task Force’s Interim Framework is February 12, 2010.
    Task Force will finalize its recommendations in both this report and the September 10, 2009 Interim Report, and provide a final report to the President in early 2010.
    For more details on the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force, including the Interim Framework, and to submit your comments, please go to www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/ceq/initiatives/oceans/interim-framework.