[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 48 (Tuesday, March 11, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Page 12955]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-4693]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration


Notice of Availability for Public Comment on the Draft Joint 
Subcommittee on Ocean Science and Technology Interagency Working Group 
on Ocean Observation Integrated Ocean Observing System Strategic Plan

AGENCY: National Ocean Service (NOS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration (NOAA), U.S. Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The NOAA Integrated Ocean Observing System Program (IOOS) 
Program publishes this notice on behalf of the Joint Subcommittee on 
Ocean Science and Technology--Interagency Working Group on Ocean 
Observation's (JSOST-IWGOO) to announce a 30-day public comment period 
for the five-year IOOS Strategic Plan. This five-year vision for IOOS 
will be used by the IWGOO to build an implementation plan that will 
describe in more detail the roles and responsibilities that will be 
undertaken by the interagency members.

DATES: Written, faxed or emailed comments must be received no later 
than 5 p.m. eastern standard time on April 4, 2008.

ADDRESSES: The JSOST-IWGOO IOOS Strategic Plan is available for review 
from Ocean.US Web site URL: http://www.ocean.us/IWGOO/SPcomments. For 
the public unable to access the internet, printed copies can be 
requested by contacting the IWGOO Executive Secretariat at the address 
below. The public is encouraged to submit comments electronically to 
[email protected]. If you are unable to access the 
internet, comments may be submitted via fax or regular mail. Faxed 
comments should be sent to 301-427-2073. Comments may be submitted in 
writing to the NOAA IOOS Program Office, Attention: IWGOO Executive 
Secretariat, 1100 Wayne Avenue, Suite 1225, Silver Spring, Maryland 
20910.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information about this 
notice, please contact the IWGOO Executive Secretariat, telephone: 301-
427-2439; E-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The U.S. Ocean Action Plan (2004), in 
response to strong recommendations of the U.S. Commission on Ocean 
Policy (2004) and building on and complementing the work of past and 
current interagency efforts to build IOOS, establishes a comprehensive 
mechanism in the executive branch for coordinating ocean policy at the 
federal level. The Committee on Ocean Policy (COP) was established by 
Executive Order 13366 to function as this coordinating mechanism. To 
support its efforts, the COP established the Interagency Committee on 
Ocean Science and Resource Management Integration (ICOSRMI) to 
facilitate and coordinate, recommend, and identify opportunities on a 
broad array of ocean science issues. In April 2007, ICOSRMI and the 
National Ocean Research Leadership Council (NORLC) established by the 
National Ocean Partnership Program (10 U.S.C. 7981-7983) jointly agreed 
that future actions taken by ICOSRMI related to the NOPP would be 
deemed actions of the NORLC for the purpose of maintaining interagency 
progress. This relationship combines the executive-legislative set of 
mechanisms to provide the essential organizational structures including 
coordination of IOOS issues at all levels of the federal government.
    The IWGOO, established under JSOST to lead the interagency planning 
and coordination of ocean observing activities including IOOS, is 
represented by seventeen federal agencies, which NOAA was identified as 
the lead federal agency by the Administration. As defined in the 
charter, the purpose of the IWGOO is to advise and assist JSOST on 
matters relating to all aspects of ocean observations within the scope 
of an end-to-end concept of ocean observations.
    The IWGOO IOOS Strategic Plan is a five-year vision for the IOOS 
that builds on the IOOS development plan, addendum, and its predecessor 
documents for the U.S. IOOS that characterizes the areas of highest 
priority for the U.S. contribution to the Global Earth Observation 
System of Systems (GEOSS).

John H. Dunnigan,
Chair, Interagency Working Group on Ocean Observations; Assistant 
Administrator, National Ocean Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration.
 [FR Doc. E8-4693 Filed 3-10-08; 8:45 am]
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