[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 140 (Thursday, July 22, 2010)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 43023-43027]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-18169]



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Part VI





The President





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Executive Order 13547--Stewardship of the Ocean, Our Coasts, and the 
Great Lakes



Memorandum of July 19, 2010--The Presidential POWER Initiative: 
Protecting Our Workers and Ensuring Reemployment
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                         Presidential Documents 
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  Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 140 / Thursday, July 22, 2010 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

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                Executive Order 13547 of July 19, 2010

                
Stewardship of the Ocean, Our Coasts, and the 
                Great Lakes

                By the authority vested in me as President by the 
                Constitution and the laws of the United States of 
                America, it is hereby ordered as follows:

                Section 1. Purpose. The ocean, our coasts, and the 
                Great Lakes provide jobs, food, energy resources, 
                ecological services, recreation, and tourism 
                opportunities, and play critical roles in our Nation's 
                transportation, economy, and trade, as well as the 
                global mobility of our Armed Forces and the maintenance 
                of international peace and security. The Deepwater 
                Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and resulting 
                environmental crisis is a stark reminder of how 
                vulnerable our marine environments are, and how much 
                communities and the Nation rely on healthy and 
                resilient ocean and coastal ecosystems. America's 
                stewardship of the ocean, our coasts, and the Great 
                Lakes is intrinsically linked to environmental 
                sustainability, human health and well-being, national 
                prosperity, adaptation to climate and other 
                environmental changes, social justice, international 
                diplomacy, and national and homeland security.

                This order adopts the recommendations of the 
                Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force, except where 
                otherwise provided in this order, and directs executive 
                agencies to implement those recommendations under the 
                guidance of a National Ocean Council. Based on those 
                recommendations, this order establishes a national 
                policy to ensure the protection, maintenance, and 
                restoration of the health of ocean, coastal, and Great 
                Lakes ecosystems and resources, enhance the 
                sustainability of ocean and coastal economies, preserve 
                our maritime heritage, support sustainable uses and 
                access, provide for adaptive management to enhance our 
                understanding of and capacity to respond to climate 
                change and ocean acidification, and coordinate with our 
                national security and foreign policy interests.

                This order also provides for the development of coastal 
                and marine spatial plans that build upon and improve 
                existing Federal, State, tribal, local, and regional 
                decisionmaking and planning processes. These regional 
                plans will enable a more integrated, comprehensive, 
                ecosystem-based, flexible, and proactive approach to 
                planning and managing sustainable multiple uses across 
                sectors and improve the conservation of the ocean, our 
                coasts, and the Great Lakes.

                Sec. 2. Policy. (a) To achieve an America whose 
                stewardship ensures that the ocean, our coasts, and the 
                Great Lakes are healthy and resilient, safe and 
                productive, and understood and treasured so as to 
                promote the well-being, prosperity, and security of 
                present and future generations, it is the policy of the 
                United States to:

(i) protect, maintain, and restore the health and biological diversity of 
ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes ecosystems and resources;

(ii) improve the resiliency of ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes ecosystems, 
communities, and economies;

(iii) bolster the conservation and sustainable uses of land in ways that 
will improve the health of ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes ecosystems;

(iv) use the best available science and knowledge to inform decisions 
affecting the ocean, our coasts, and the Great Lakes, and enhance 
humanity's capacity to understand, respond, and adapt to a changing global 
environment;

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(v) support sustainable, safe, secure, and productive access to, and uses 
of the ocean, our coasts, and the Great Lakes;

(vi) respect and preserve our Nation's maritime heritage, including our 
social, cultural, recreational, and historical values;

(vii) exercise rights and jurisdiction and perform duties in accordance 
with applicable international law, including respect for and preservation 
of navigational rights and freedoms, which are essential for the global 
economy and international peace and security;

(viii) increase scientific understanding of ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes 
ecosystems as part of the global interconnected systems of air, land, ice, 
and water, including their relationships to humans and their activities;

(ix) improve our understanding and awareness of changing environmental 
conditions, trends, and their causes, and of human activities taking place 
in ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes waters; and

(x) foster a public understanding of the value of the ocean, our coasts, 
and the Great Lakes to build a foundation for improved stewardship.

                    (b) The United States shall promote this policy by:

(i) ensuring a comprehensive and collaborative framework for the 
stewardship of the ocean, our coasts, and the Great Lakes that facilitates 
cohesive actions across the Federal Government, as well as participation of 
State, tribal, and local authorities, regional governance structures, 
nongovernmental organizations, the public, and the private sector;

(ii) cooperating and exercising leadership at the international level;

(iii) pursuing the United States' accession to the Law of the Sea 
Convention; and

(iv) supporting ocean stewardship in a fiscally responsible manner.

                Sec. 3. Definitions. As used in this order:

                    (a) ``Final Recommendations'' means the Final 
                Recommendations of the Interagency Ocean Policy Task 
                Force that shall be made publicly available and for 
                which a notice of public availability shall be 
                published in the Federal Register.
                    (b) The term ``coastal and marine spatial 
                planning'' means a comprehensive, adaptive, integrated, 
                ecosystem-based, and transparent spatial planning 
                process, based on sound science, for analyzing current 
                and anticipated uses of ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes 
                areas. Coastal and marine spatial planning identifies 
                areas most suitable for various types or classes of 
                activities in order to reduce conflicts among uses, 
                reduce environmental impacts, facilitate compatible 
                uses, and preserve critical ecosystem services to meet 
                economic, environmental, security, and social 
                objectives. In practical terms, coastal and marine 
                spatial planning provides a public policy process for 
                society to better determine how the ocean, our coasts, 
                and Great Lakes are sustainably used and protected--now 
                and for future generations.
                    (c) The term ``coastal and marine spatial plans'' 
                means the plans that are certified by the National 
                Ocean Council as developed in accordance with the 
                definition, goals, principles, and process described in 
                the Final Recommendations.

                Sec. 4. Establishment of National Ocean Council. (a) 
                There is hereby established the National Ocean Council 
                (Council).

                    (b) The Council shall consist of the following:

(i) the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality and the Director of 
the Office of Science and Technology Policy, who shall be the Co-Chairs of 
the Council;

(ii) the Secretaries of State, Defense, the Interior, Agriculture, Health 
and Human Services, Commerce, Labor, Transportation, Energy, and Homeland 
Security, the Attorney General, the Administrator of the Environmental 
Protection Agency, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget,

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the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere (Administrator of 
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), the Administrator of 
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Director of National 
Intelligence, the Director of the National Science Foundation, and the 
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff;

(iii) the National Security Advisor and the Assistants to the President for 
Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, Domestic Policy, Energy and Climate 
Change, and Economic Policy;

(iv) an employee of the Federal Government designated by the Vice 
President; and

(v) such other officers or employees of the Federal Government as the Co-
Chairs of the Council may from time to time designate.

                    (c) The Co-Chairs shall invite the participation of 
                the Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory 
                Commission, to the extent consistent with the 
                Commission's statutory authorities and legal 
                obligations, and may invite the participation of such 
                other independent agencies as the Council deems 
                appropriate.
                    (d) The Co-Chairs of the Council, in consultation 
                with the National Security Advisor and the Assistant to 
                the President for Homeland Security and 
                Counterterrorism, shall regularly convene and preside 
                at meetings of the Council, determine its agenda, 
                direct its work, and, as appropriate to address 
                particular subject matters, establish and direct 
                committees of the Council that shall consist 
                exclusively of members of the Council.
                    (e) A member of the Council may designate, to 
                perform committee functions of the member, any person 
                who is within such member's department, agency, or 
                office and who is (i) an officer of the United States 
                appointed by the President, (ii) a member of the Senior 
                Executive Service or the Senior Intelligence Service, 
                (iii) a general officer or flag officer, or (iv) an 
                employee of the Vice President.
                    (f) Consistent with applicable law and subject to 
                the availability of appropriations, the Office of 
                Science and Technology Policy and the Council on 
                Environmental Quality shall provide the Council with 
                funding, including through the National Science and 
                Technology Council or the Office of Environmental 
                Quality. The Council on Environmental Quality shall, to 
                the extent permitted by law and subject to the 
                availability of appropriations, provide administrative 
                support necessary to implement this order.
                    (g) The day-to-day operations of the Council shall 
                be administered by a Director and a Deputy Director, 
                who shall supervise a full-time staff to assist the Co-
                Chairs in their implementation of this order.

                Sec. 5. Functions of the Council. (a) The Council shall 
                have the structure and function and operate as defined 
                in the Final Recommendations. The Council is 
                authorized, after the Council's first year of 
                operation, to make modifications to its structure, 
                function, and operations to improve its effectiveness 
                and efficiency in furthering the policy set forth in 
                section 2 of this order.

                    (b) To implement the policy set forth in section 2 
                of this order, the Council shall provide appropriate 
                direction to ensure that executive departments', 
                agencies', or offices' decisions and actions affecting 
                the ocean, our coasts, and the Great Lakes will be 
                guided by the stewardship principles and national 
                priority objectives set forth in the Final 
                Recommendations, to the extent consistent with 
                applicable law. The Council shall base its decisions on 
                the consensus of its members. With respect to those 
                matters in which consensus cannot be reached, the 
                National Security Advisor shall coordinate with the Co-
                Chairs and, as appropriate, the Assistants to the 
                President for Energy and Climate Change, and Economic 
                Policy, and the employee of the United States 
                designated by the Vice President, subject to the 
                limitations set forth in section 9 of this order, to 
                present the disputed issue or issues for decision by 
                the President.

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                Sec. 6. Agency Responsibilities. (a) All executive 
                departments, agencies, and offices that are members of 
                the Council and any other executive department, agency, 
                or office whose actions affect the ocean, our coasts, 
                and the Great Lakes shall, to the fullest extent 
                consistent with applicable law:

(i) take such action as necessary to implement the policy set forth in 
section 2 of this order and the stewardship principles and national 
priority objectives as set forth in the Final Recommendations and 
subsequent guidance from the Council; and

(ii) participate in the process for coastal and marine spatial planning and 
comply with Council certified coastal and marine spatial plans, as 
described in the Final Recommendations and subsequent guidance from the 
Council.

                    (b) Each executive department, agency, and office 
                that is required to take actions under this order shall 
                prepare and make publicly available an annual report 
                including a concise description of actions taken by the 
                agency in the previous calendar year to implement the 
                order, a description of written comments by persons or 
                organizations regarding the agency's compliance with 
                this order, and the agency's response to such comments.
                    (c) Each executive department, agency, and office 
                that is required to take actions under this order shall 
                coordinate and contribute resources, as appropriate, to 
                assist in establishing a common information management 
                system as defined in the Final Recommendations and 
                shall be held accountable for managing its own 
                information assets by keeping them current, easily 
                accessible, and consistent with Federal standards.
                    (d) To the extent permitted by law, executive 
                departments, agencies, and offices shall provide the 
                Council such information, support, and assistance as 
                the Council, through the Co-Chairs, may request.

                Sec. 7. Governance Coordinating Committee. The Council 
                shall establish a Governance Coordinating Committee 
                that shall consist of 18 officials from State, tribal, 
                and local governments in accordance with the Final 
                Recommendations. The Committee may establish 
                subcommittees chaired by representatives of the 
                Governance Coordinating Committee. These subcommittees 
                may include additional representatives from State, 
                tribal, and local governments, as appropriate to 
                provide for greater collaboration and diversity of 
                views.

                Sec. 8. Regional Advisory Committees. The lead Federal 
                department, agency, or office for each regional 
                planning body established for the development of 
                regional coastal and marine spatial plans, in 
                consultation with their nonfederal co-lead agencies and 
                membership of their regional planning body, shall 
                establish such advisory committees under the Federal 
                Advisory Committee Act, 5 U.S.C. App., as they deem 
                necessary to provide information and to advise the 
                regional planning body on the development of regional 
                coastal and marine spatial plans to promote the policy 
                established in section 2 of this order.

                Sec. 9. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order, 
                the establishment of the Council, and the Final 
                Recommendations shall be construed to impair or 
                otherwise affect:

(i) authority granted by law to an executive department or agency or the 
head thereof; or

(ii) functions assigned by the President to the National Security Council 
or Homeland Security Council (including subordinate bodies) relating to 
matters affecting foreign affairs, national security, homeland security, or 
intelligence.

                    (b) Nothing in this order shall be construed to 
                impair or otherwise affect the functions of the 
                Director of the Office of Management and Budget 
                relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative 
                proposals.

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                    (c) In carrying out the provisions of this order 
                and implementing the Final Recommendations, all actions 
                of the Council and the executive departments, agencies, 
                and offices that constitute it shall be consistent with 
                applicable international law, including customary 
                international law, such as that reflected in the Law of 
                the Sea Convention.
                    (d) This order is not intended to, and does not, 
                create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, 
                enforceable at law or in equity by any party against 
                the United States, its departments, agencies, or 
                entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any 
                other person.

                Sec. 10. Revocation. Executive Order 13366 of December 
                17, 2004, is hereby revoked.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

                THE WHITE HOUSE,

                    July 19, 2010.

[FR Doc. 2010-18169
Filed 7-21-10; 11:15 am]
Billing code 3195-W0-P