Readout of the First Ocean Policy Committee Meeting

Today, the Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), Brenda Mallory, and the President’s Science Advisor and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), Dr. Eric Lander, convened the first Biden-Harris Administration meeting of the Ocean Policy Committee (OPC).  The OPC is a Congressionally mandated, Secretary-level interagency body to coordinate ocean science and technology and management policy across the federal government. It is also a key way to engage with ocean stakeholders broadly.

The OPC will coordinate across the federal government and drive forward effective ocean science and management policy.  The ocean plays an integral part in the Biden-Harris Administration’s key priorities including tackling climate change, racial equity, and the economy.

OPC members discussed three strategic priorities today:

• Maximize the environmental, economic, and social benefits the ocean provides to Americans
• Develop an ocean-climate action plan to focus agency actions on ocean-based mitigation of climate change effects
• Identify strategic direction for ocean science and technology

OPC membership is comprised of the following Departments and Agencies:

• Department of State
• Department of Defense and Navy
• Department of Justice
• Department of the Interior
• Department of Agriculture
• Department of Commerce
• Department of Transportation
• Department of Energy
• Department of Homeland Security and Coast Guard
• Environmental Protection Agency
• Office of Management and Budget
• National Aeronautics and Space Administration
• Office of the Director of National Intelligence
• White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy
• Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate
• Joint Chiefs of Staff
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
• U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
• Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs
• Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism
• Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy
• Assistant to the President for Economic Policy
• Office of the Vice President
• Committee on Maritime Transportation Systems
• Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council
• National Science Foundation

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