Kelp forests are extraordinarily important concentrations of biodiversity and are extremely threatened, along the Oregon coast and around the world.
Read MoreOregon’s Most Endangered Forests
Marine Sanctuaries
Offshore Oregon Could Be Despoiled by Wind Power Turbines
We don’t have to despoil the environment and view off the shore of Oregon to produce carbon-free electricity.
Read MoreOregon’s Blue Carbon, Part 1: Rep. Bonamici on the Case
Sea grasses, mangroves, and salt marshes along our coast “capture and hold” carbon, acting as something called a carbon sink. These coastal systems, though much smaller in size than the planet’s forests, sequester this carbon at a much faster rate, and can continue to do so for millions of years.
Read MoreFilling the Congressional Conservation Pipeline for When It Unclogs
in Congress, Federal Lands, Keep it in the Ground, Marine National Monuments, Marine Sanctuaries, Nat'l Conservation Lands, National Forest System, National Monuments, National Park Service, National Park System, National Parks, National Recreation Area, National Wildlife Refuges, Politics, Wild and Scenic Rivers, Wilderness, Bureau of Land Management, Ecological Reserves
Several mostly good public lands conservation bills have been introduced in the 115th Congress (2017–18) but languish in committee, unable to get a vote on the floor of the House or the Senate.
Read MoreNew US Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Exploitation: Costly and Short Lived (Part 2)
For economic, environmental, and societal reasons equally applicable to today’s and future generations, the United States should eschew any new offshore oil and gas exploitation and continue its progress toward a fossil fuel–free sustainable energy economy a decade or two earlier than it otherwise would.
Read MoreNew US Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Exploitation: Costly and Short Lived (Part 1)
The Trump administration is proposing to open up vast areas of the United States Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) to leasing for oil and gas, far larger than the area made available under the Obama administration.
Read MoreThe National Estuarine Research Reserve System
There are presently twenty-nine National Estuarine Research Reserves (NERRs) totaling 1,339,027 acres located in twenty-three states and one territory
Read MoreProtecting the Pacific Northwest Offshore Ocean for This and Future Generations
Abstaining from mineral development offshore is the only way to protect the marine environment and the renewable resources that depend upon it.
Read MoreThe National Marine Sanctuary System, Actual and Potential
National Marine Sanctuaries have been established to protect shipwrecks, whales, coral reefs, and other things marinely spectacular. “Sanctuary” is generally a misnomer, though, in that NMSs are not true sanctuaries from all extractive uses. Most NMSs were established by the secretary of commerce in the process mandated in the NMSA. Surviving this process means that most NMSs come out the other end of the bureaucratic meat grinder as compromised. While oil and gas exploitation is generally banned (sometimes NOAA doesn’t do so, but Congress always steps in and does so ban), other extractive uses are often not.
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