Rep. Hastings Asks Appropriators To "Pause" Ocean Takeover

House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (R-WA) sent a letter this week to Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY) asking that language be included in the appropriations bills prohibiting the use of funds for the implementation of President Obama's ocean zoning and National Ocean Policy.

"The Natural Resources Committee has undertaken oversight over this far-reaching Policy and the lack of information provided by the Administration raises serious concerns - particularly about the funding for the implementation of the Policy and the negative impact on existing activities by agencies implementing the Policy," Chairman Hastings said this week. "The President's Policy is especially alarming due to the fact it will not only affect the oceans and coastal areas, but also stretches far inland following rivers and their tributaries upstream for hundreds of miles."

In a bulletin sent out last week, the Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA) reminded anglers that the new ocean zoning and National Ocean Policy initiatives enacted by presidential privilege were originally proposed by Rep. Sam Farr (D-CA) in the form of the Oceans 21 legislation. Designed to meet the requirements laid out in 2003 by the non-governmental Pew Ocean Commission, Rep. Farr's Oceans 21 bill never made it out of the House Natural Resources Committee because of the overly burdensome bureaucracy written into the bill.

"I find it very strange that the President is complaining how his healthcare bill was passed by majority in the House so it shouldn't even be heard by the U.S Supreme Court, yet with legislation like the Farr bill which never even made it out of Committee, he finds it's perfectly reasonable that an executive order should stand," said RFA executive director Jim Donofrio. "This isn't about partisan politics, this about adhering to the legislative process by which all Americans are bound."

Donofrio said RFA supports efforts by Chairman Hastings and his colleagues on the Committee to slow down the National Oceans Policy process by cutting off appropriations.

"The funding of a complete takeover of our state rights should not be supported by either party," Donofrio said. "It's a direct assault on our freedoms and liberties, particularly given the fact that budget appropriations would be far better suited to funding scientific efforts in our oceans rather than additional councils and committees."

Rep. Hastings added, "the Administration's efforts to impose this Policy across the nation and mandate ocean zoning should be put on pause until the full economic consequences are known and direct answers are given on the specific statutory authority that justifies the construction of this new, regulatory behemoth. This can best be accomplished by putting a halt to the Administration's cloaked funding of this Policy for FY 2013."

"I respectfully request that the Appropriations Committee include language in each Fiscal Year 2013 appropriation bill prohibiting the use of funds to implement this National Ocean Policy," the chairman added.

In an online blog at House Speaker John Boehner's website on October 26, 2011, Donofrio was quoted as saying that President Obama's new National Oceans Policy (NOP) regulations "stifle job growth" and create "too much uncertainty" for America's angling community. "The recreational fishing industry is 'Main Street America' in every sense; it is largely composed of small, family-run, mom and pop businesses," Donofrio said, going on to say that "creating additional levels of bureaucracy" will reduce the overall productivity of his industry.

"It seems counterproductive to advance and fund the NOP when it will stifle job growth in the fishing sectors," Donofrio told Congress in his 2011 testimony before the House Natural Resources Committee.