Since their first day in office, President Biden and Vice President Harris have delivered on the most ambitious climate and conservation agenda in history - including taking action to conserve our ocean and marine ecosystems for future generations. This agenda is driven by the President's America the Beautiful initiative, which is supporting locally led conservation efforts with a goal to protect, conserve, and restore at least 30 percent of U.S. lands and waters by 2030.
Today, as part of the Biden-Harris Administration's unprecedented commitment to protect America's natural wonders for future generations, honor areas of national importance and of cultural significance to Tribal Nations and Indigenous Peoples, and expand access to nature, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released a final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the proposed Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary. The preferred alternative outlined by NOAA in the FEIS would designate 4,543 square miles of ocean waters off the coast of Central California as a National Marine Sanctuary. If designated, the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary will be the third largest in the National Marine Sanctuary System.
The release of the FEIS for the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary follows nearly a decade of work by Tribes, Indigenous Peoples, community leaders, organizations, businesses, state and local officials, and members of Congress - including then-Senator and now Vice President Kamala Harris - to develop and advance this National Marine Sanctuary proposal. The sanctuary, as described in the preferred alternative of the FEIS, would recognize and celebrate Indigenous Peoples' connections to the region, and be managed with the active involvement of Tribes and Indigenous communities, inclusive of Indigenous values, knowledge, and traditions. The sanctuary is anticipated to bring comprehensive community- and ecosystem-based management to nationally significant natural, historical, archeological, and cultural resources - including kelp forests, rocky reefs, sandy beaches, underwater mountains, and more than 200 shipwrecks.
The boundaries for the National Marine Sanctuary, as outlined in the preferred alternative in the FEIS, would not include areas where offshore wind turbines are currently planned to be built or where wind energy transmission cables are expected to be authorized. The proposed boundaries reflect extensive input from Tribes, conservation stakeholders, and offshore wind developers on how to simultaneously pursue conservation and clean energy goals. NOAA would consider a potential expansion of the proposed sanctuary in the coming years, however, after transmission cables have been laid.
Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary
The boundary of the preferred alternative for the proposed Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary stretches along 116 miles of coastline and would encompass 4,543 square miles of ocean, protecting important ecological habitats such as kelp forests, rocky reefs, and sandy beaches, a seabird hotspot, and significant offshore features, including the Rodriguez Seamount, Arguello Canyon, and a portion of Santa Lucia Bank offshore of central California. This area contains abundant, nationally significant natural resources, including many threatened or endangered species, such as blue whales, snowy plovers, black abalone, and leatherback sea turtles, that rely on habitats, physical features, or prey found in the sanctuary. NOAA has documented more than 200 shipwrecks in the sanctuary, two of which (Yankee Blade and U.S. Coast Guard Cutter McCulloch) are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
This region and its abundant resources have been home to coastal, ocean-going Tribal Nations and Indigenous Peoples for tens of thousands of years or more. The proposed sanctuary is anticipated to highlight Chumash and other Indigenous cultures and create opportunities to better understand and protect ancient village sites that may exist along the now-submerged paleo-shoreline. The sanctuary was nominated for designation by the Northern Chumash Tribal Council. NOAA has engaged, consulted, and worked directly with Tribes and Indigenous Peoples throughout the entire review process, including engagement with local Chumash and Salinan Tribes, Indigenous Peoples, and communities and government-to-government consultation with the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians. NOAA, under the preferred alternative, would manage the sanctuary through a co-stewardship framework. Earlier this week, the National Marine Sanctuaries Foundation announced the establishment of the Sanctuary Community Fund, through which an initial $2 million in funding from the President's Inflation Reduction Act will be delivered to support the capacity of local communities to engage in sanctuaries like this one.
The sanctuary, as described in NOAA's preferred alternative in the FEIS, would include protections that are similar to those in existing regulations for the adjacent Monterey Bay and Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuaries. The new sanctuary would guard against ecologically detrimental activities, including new offshore oil and gas development, seabed disturbance, discharges, disturbance to submerged maritime heritage resources, attracting a white shark, and introducing an introduced species, while allowing for enjoyment and use of the sanctuary for other recreational and commercial activities. The rules proposed for the sanctuary do not include any new fishing or boating regulations.
The Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary, as discussed in the FEIS, is expected to balance compatible ocean uses and cultural heritage considerations. Through a two-phased approach to the designation of the National Marine Sanctuary, the preferred approach to the sanctuary would protect the natural and cultural resources of the area and maintain opportunities for offshore wind development. This effort demonstrates the Biden-Harris Administration's commitment to combating the climate crisis by advancing both conservation and responsible clean energy development. Yesterday, the Biden-Harris Administration announced the 10th approval of a commercial-scale offshore wind project. With that approval, the Administration has now approved more than 15 gigawatts of permitted offshore wind projects - enough to power 5.25 million homes, and capacity equivalent to half of the capacity needed to achieve the 30 gigawatt goal. This progress shows our nation is more than capable of meeting both our conservation and climate goals while building a clean energy economy that lowers energy costs, reduces emissions, and protects and conserves our lands and waters.
The Biden-Harris Administration's Ocean Achievements
Ocean protection
Since the launch of the America the Beautiful initiative in early 2021, the U.S. has experienced one of the most rapid accelerations of conservation progress in the nation's history, with more than 42 million acres of land and water conserved in just over three years. President Biden understands that the ocean is central to our fight against the climate crisis and to creating a cleaner, safer, and healthier future. Ocean protection highlights by the Biden-Harris Administration include:
- Created two new National Marine Sanctuaries and a new national estuarine research reserve. Lake Ontario National Marine Sanctuary - whose designation ceremony is taking place today - celebrates the region's maritime cultural history and provides new opportunities for research, education, recreation, and maritime heritage-related tourism in local coastal communities and the broader Great Lakes region. The Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary provides stewardship for our nation's maritime heritage in Lake Michigan. The Connecticut National Estuarine Research Reserve protects part of Long Island Sound and the Thames and Connecticut Rivers.
- Protected the U.S. Arctic Ocean from future oil and gas leasing. Using his authority under Section 12(a) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, President Biden designated approximately 2.8 million acres of the Beaufort Sea in the Arctic Ocean as indefinitely off limits for future oil and gas leasing, completing protections for the entire U.S. Arctic Ocean.
- Taken steps to create one of the largest marine protected areas on the planet in the Pacific Ocean southwest of Hawaiˋi. The President started the process to consider designating approximately 700,000 square miles of the area as a new National Marine Sanctuary. If the sanctuary is completed, it would conserve more than 700,000 square miles of significant natural and cultural resources and honor the traditional practices and ancestral pathways of Pacific Island voyagers.
- Preserved Bristol Bay salmon fisheries: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency acted to help protect Bristol Bay, the most productive wild salmon ecosystem in the world. This step protects certain waters that are important to sustaining Southwest Alaska's salmon resources from contamination associated with developing the Pebble Project.
- Advanced designations for three additional sanctuaries in the Hudson Canyon, Lake Erie, and within the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.
- Restored protections to the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, to safeguard the unique biodiversity of the deep canyons and the surrounding waters that teem with life, and finalized this monument's management plan.
- Finalized long-term collaborative management and community stewardship of the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument by releasing the final management plan in collaboration with the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
Combating climate change
To advance the President's commitment to ocean climate action, in March 2023, the White House released the first-ever Ocean Climate Action Plan (OCAP), a groundbreaking roadmap to harness the power and capacity of the ocean to address the climate crisis. The plan outlined new actions on the Biden-Harris Administration's ocean climate priorities. One year later, the bold goals and ambitious actions set forth in the OCAP are well underway, complemented by other strategies including the National Ocean Biodiversity Strategy, the National Aquatic Environmental DNA Strategy, and the National Strategy for a Sustainable Ocean Economy.
As the first comprehensive U.S. strategy to use the power of the ocean and coasts to address and respond to a changing climate, the OCAP has furthered Administration priorities on tackling climate change, advancing equity and environmental justice, and bolstering the U.S. economy. Highlights from the past year of accomplishments include:
- Advancing environmental justice through the release of the first ever Ocean Justice Strategy, which provides a framework for achieving equitable access to the benefits of a healthy ocean and coastal ecosystem in order to address the historic inequities for many communities that are dependent on our ocean and Great Lakes.
- Scaling up the offshore wind energy industry to create a clean energy future, including working with Tribes, states and ocean users to undertake thoughtful processes that have facilitated the approval of ten commercial-scale offshore wind projects in federal waters along the nation's coasts that combined have the potential to add 15 gigawatts (GW) of clean energy to the nation's grid - enough to power 5.25 million homes each year, and equivalent to half of the capacity needed to achieve the 30 gigawatt goal. The Administration is collaborating with local, state, and Tribal governments, fishing and wind industries, and other ocean users to ensure that our offshore wind progress meets the needs of all users of coasts and ocean waters.
- Advancing the decarbonization of the U.S. marine transportation system through a $3 billion investment in clean U.S. ports.
- Enhancing community resilience to ocean change through a historic $2.6 billion framework being implemented by NOAA and the Department of Commerce that seeks to protect coastal communities and restore marine resources, including nearly $400 million for Tribal priorities. This work advances the Biden-Harris Administration's National Climate Resilience Framework, which helps to align climate resilience investments across the public and private sector through common principles and opportunities for action to build a climate-resilient nation. These efforts are backed by President Biden's Investing in America agenda, through which more than $50 billion is being delivered to advance climate adaptation and resilience across the nation, including in communities that are the most vulnerable to climate impacts.
- Addressing and mitigating the impacts of a changing climate through the establishment of a Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal Fast Track Action Committee and the release of the U.S. Ocean Acidification Action Plan.
- Coordinating and accelerating measurements of greenhouse gases to track progress in achieving the Administration's historically ambitious goals and enable faster progress where feasible, through establishment of a National Strategy to Enhance the Nation's Greenhouse Gas Measurement and Monitoring Capabilities.
