STATE, FEDERAL LEADERS RELEASE PLAN TO STRENGTHEN PROTECTION FOR THE GULF OF MEXICO WITHIN THREE YEARS
Governors' Action Plan Outlines Projects for a Healthy and Resilient Coast

March 28, 2006 � Top environmental officials from the 13 federal agencies and five Gulf Coast states today unveiled a plan to strengthen environmental protection for the Gulf of Mexico and further the ongoing recovery and rebuilding effort after the devastating effects of the 2005 hurricane season. The Governors' Action Plan for Healthy and Resilient Coasts is a framework and guide for meaningful and sustained progress in the shared stewardship of the Gulf of Mexico by the American Gulf States. (Click NOAA image for larger view of oil booms being placed in Lake Charles, La., on Sept. 29, 2005, following Hurricane Rita. Click here for high resolution version. Please credit “NOAA.”)

The three-day State of the Gulf of Mexico Summit is hosted by the Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi's Harte Research Institute. Senior federal officials from several cabinet agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency and NOAA, are joined by Texas Governor Rick Perry, governors from Mexico and agency leaders from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality and the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to discuss issues toward creating and maintaining a sustainable economy and environment.

The state-federal alliance outlined 11 actions to improve and protect water quality, restore coastal wetlands and estuarine ecosystems, reduce pollution and nutrient loading, identify Gulf habitats to support coastal management and expand environmental education. They include:

• Improving detection and forecasting of harmful algal blooms.
• Improving government efficiency in water quality monitoring.
• Increasing the safety of Gulf communities by better understanding the risks of localized sea level rise, storm surge and subsidence.
• Creating and providing access to interactive habitat maps for priority Gulf of Mexico habitats.
• Implementing nutrient reduction activities during Gulf recovery and rebuilding to restore key coastal watersheds impaired by excessive nutrient inputs.
• Galvanizing local communities to protect the Gulf of Mexico through targeted education.

The Governor's Action Plan is the result of 12 months of collaboration between the Gulf States, the Federal Workgroup, interested citizens and numerous other partners. The initiative includes projects designed to produce results in 36 months. The Gulf of Mexico Alliance is part of a coordinated response to the Ocean Action Plan, which called for the development of regional goals and priorities for safeguarding the nation's oceans through better coordination of federal, state and local management, planning and scientific resources.

NOAA and EPA led the workgroup of 13 federal agencies who together bring diverse expertise and established experience to support the Gulf of Mexico Alliance. The federal workgroup will coordinate and integrate the federal collaboration based on the coastal and ocean issue priorities of the Alliance.

"Our partnership with the Gulf of Mexico Alliance allows us to explore better mechanisms for applying a regional ecosystem approach to management and for using integrated coastal and ocean observations for management purposes," said retired Navy Vice Adm. Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr., Ph.D., undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. "NOAA has committed experts and resources to help the Alliance in four ways. We will expand our real-time harmful algal bloom forecasts to Texas and Mexico, hold Gulf-wide habitat restoration workshops, create a Web-based priority habitat information system, and help the states demonstrate the importance of ensuring the environmental and economic resilience of the Gulf.

The three-day summit will continue Wednesday with presentations and discussions on increasing governmental effectiveness, better preparing for future natural emergencies and supporting an improved quality of life throughout the Gulf's coastal communities.

NOAA, an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and providing environmental stewardship of the nation's coastal and marine resources.

Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), NOAA is working with its federal partners and nearly 60 countries to develop a global monitoring network that is as integrated as the planet it observes.

Relevant Web Sites
NOAA Ocean Service

Media Contact:
David Miller, NOAA, (202) 482-0013 or Ben Sherman, NOAA Ocean Service, (301) 713-3066