Chesapeake Bay | Be a Seed for Change

Obama Administration Progress on Oceans Conservation

Posted by Julie Randall:

Obama Responds to Ocean Letter

On August 15, Blue Frontier Campaign put together a letter to the presidential candidates signed by 60 ocean leaders calling on them to pledge to protect our ocean by moving forward in four action areas. On September 24, the Obama campaign responded with the following statement:

“President Obama is committed to ensuring that our nation’s vast natural resources are used responsibly, and that we maintain healthy oceans and coasts. By establishing a National Ocean Policy, he made it a priority of the federal government to ensure a proactive approach to improving the conservation of the ocean, our coasts, and the Great Lakes.”

President Obama is directing additional funding to Gulf Coast restoration to further bring back the fisheries and coastal ecosystems that are still recovering in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon spill. He kicked off the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, the largest investment in the Great Lakes in two decades, which is targeting ecological problems such as invasive species, toxic hot spots, and pollution runoff. And his administration is cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay, establishing a “pollution diet” for the Bay that will help restore the natural habitat for fish and other wildlife. They have also invested over $1.4 billion in Everglades’ restoration, helping restore tens of thousands of acres that will serve as a sanctuary for native Florida plants and wildlife. Under President Obama, we have created or enhanced more than 540 public coastal recreation areas, protected more than 54,000 acres of coastlines and restored over 5,200 acres of coastal habitat. The administration is also investing more in monitoring our fishing stock in coastal areas in order to have the most accurate data possible on the health of our fisheries. These are significant steps that are helping us improve the health of our oceans and build more robust fisheries.

Read the Executive Order — Stewardship of the Ocean, Our Coasts, and the Great Lakes

Read the Final Recommendations

Visit the National Ocean Council website

Read the FAQs

Read the press release

You can read public comments on the Task Force here.

Read the President’s Proclamation on National Oceans Month

Earth Day.

A big day for the environment — but to protect our air, land, and water, we have to make every single day count between now and November 6th.

President Obama knows we don’t have to sacrifice clean air and clean water to create jobs and grow our economy. But time and again, we’ve seen that our opponents are willing to play politics with the health of our natural resources — and the American people — just to protect the bottom line of their special-interest allies.
If it was up to them, we’d have no EPA working to protect our kids from harmful air pollution or make sure our water is safe to drink — polluters would once again have a free pass. And I probably don’t need to remind you of their views on climate change.

So, as we pause to appreciate our planet, say you’re standing with the only candidate in this race who’s fighting for it:

Join Environmentalists for Obama.

This community will help spread the word about the President’s record on the environment and what’s at stake in this election.
President Obama has already taken historic steps to clean up our air and water, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and bring ecosystems like the Great Lakes, Chesapeake Bay, and Florida Everglades back to life.

This is what that kind of change looks like:
— Setting the first-ever national standards on mercury and other forms of toxic air pollution from power plants, which will prevent up to 11,000 premature deaths, 4,700 heart attacks, and 130,000 asthma attacks every year when fully implemented

— Developing fuel efficiency standards that will nearly double fuel economy for cars and light trucks by 2025

— and save families thousands of dollars at the pump and save our country millions of barrels of oil

— Establishing safeguards to cut interstate soot and smog-forming pollution from power plants by more than 50 percent and improve air quality for more than 75 percent of Americans

— Investing more in clean energy than ever before — and putting us on track to double our use of renewable sources by the end of the year

— Signing one of the largest expansions of wilderness protections in a generation, setting aside more than 2 million acres of land

All of that is on the line — along with the chance to keep going.
We simply can’t afford a White House that is skeptical about the human impact on climate change and continues to give Big Oil taxpayer giveaways at a time of record profits.
It’s on us to make sure that doesn’t happen — right now, President Obama needs you to have his back.
If you’re ready to fight alongside him, join Environmentalists for Obama today:
Thanks,
James
James Kvaal National Policy Director Obama for America
P.S. — Check out a special Earth Day message from President Obama here.