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Panel urges new ocean protections, trust fund Commission wants $4 billion of $5 billion in oil and gas royalty payments, cabinet-level National Ocean Council John Heilprin Associated Press Writer
The government should set up a trust fund with $4 billion annually from oil and gas royalties to protect and improve the health of the nation’s oceans, Great Lakes and coastal areas, a presidential commission reported April 20.
“Will it be tough to sell? You better believe it. But we’re going to go for it,” said the chairman of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy. “Everybody wants to go after those revenues. Well, we do too. And we hope we can win it,” said James Watkins, a retired admiral and former chief of naval operations.
The panel recommended a trust fund similar to one for highways that is financed by revenue from the federal gasoline tax. Watkins said ocean resources no longer can be thought of as limitless and that the oceans cannot continually clean themselves. Also proposed was a new Cabinet-level National Ocean Council. Some $5 billion annually in royalty and other payments now goes to the Treasury for offshore oil and gas drilling. The commission wants to use $4 billion of that; the other $1 billion would go for land and water conservation and historic preservation.
The first federal review of ocean policy in 35 years produced more than 250 recommendations, including some for states, in a nearly 500-page report. Area studied larger than U.S. land mass Commissioners spent 2 1/2 years studying coastal areas, the Great Lakes and 4.4 million square miles of ocean. That total area is nearly one-quarter larger than all 50 states combined because it includes the exclusive economic zone stretching about 200 miles from the continent in addition to Pacific and Atlantic islands.
The panel urged new ways of managing these waters so the needs of nature are placed ahead of political boundaries. But people’s needs, too, must be considered, the report said.
The commission estimated the cost of all its recommendations at $1.3 billion the first year, $2.4 billion the second year and $3.2 billion annually after that.
But it pointed to annual ocean-related economic activity of $700 billion in goods that ports handle, $50 billion from fishing and trade, $11 billion from cruise ships and passengers, and $25 billion to $40 billion from offshore oil and gas production. The draft report went to governors and others for comment. A final one goes to Congress and the White House later this year.
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