Federal Funding for Shellfish Initiative Asked to be Blocked

Washington State Representative Doc Hastings (Republican) has asked the Appropriations Committee to block funding of the National Ocean Policy.  (read letter here)  Included is the National Shellfish Initiative and Coastal Marine Spatial Planning (read the Draft National Ocean Policy here).

81 separate industry groups signed an April 12 letter in support of this position stating industries generating tens of millions of jobs and trillions of dollars in revenues would be harmed. (read letter here) 

Representative Hastings notes federal agencies have been “instructed to prioritize” the National Ocean Policy and have been asked how their “existing resources [can] be repurposed” in furtherance of this new Executive Branch initiative.  It asks for a pause in implementation in order to "help reduce the risk of detrimental economic and societal impacts."

At the state level, Governor Gregoire's Washington Shellfish Initiative has also come under increased scrutiny.  Questions were  raised in a legislative hearing earlier this year on whether appropriate oversight exists to control the Executive Branch decision which created the initiative.  Washington coastal communities have expressed strong concerns that Governor Gregoire has allocated no funding for their communities.   Environmental groups have questioned the wisdom of "streamlined permitting" and the weaker oversight which would follow.  Related, coastal representation on coastal marine spatial planning was vetoed by the Governor, replaced by a single staffer from Olympia (read The Daily World article here).

Politically driven programs can sometimes achieve great things.  Sometimes they degenerate into a quagmire of competing interests which results in nothing.