From the President's Office - 10/5/09
Filed under: About, From The President's Office, News & Resources
I keep thinking that things can’t get any busier here in Washington, but the next several weeks look like they will require the expenditure of a lot of energy. Congress, the Administration and we here at Ocean Leadership are flat out dealing with the many pressing issues from the federal research budget to national ocean policy. We will be hosting our Trustees and Members meeting next week that will feature presentations from Ralph Cicerone, President of the National Academies of Science; Jane Lubchenco, NOAA Administrator; and RDML David Titley, Oceanographer of the Navy. I have spoken with each of them and my sense is that it will be a great opportunity for our Members to learn about new climate change initiatives at their organizations and the role ocean sciences and education will play in these initiatives.
After the Board of Trustees Meeting ends, I have been invited back to the Council on Environmental Quality on Friday for further discussions on marine spatial planning. I cannot express enough how significant these meetings have been with the Ocean Policy Task Force over the past few months and moving forward as we expect a final National Ocean Policy and framework for marine spatial planning to
be released early next year. We will keep you posted on how this discussion goes.
Yesterday, I attended the nomination hearing for Marcia McNutt to be the next Director of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. As would
be expected, Marcia did a magnificent job answering the questions from several Senators, and it appears that she will likely be confirmed soon. We are very fortunate that Marcia is willing to serve in this
Administration and dedicate the time and energy it will take to succeed. She deserves a strong voice of support from all of us.
Have a nice weekend and I look forward to seeing many of you next week.
Bob
