SavingSeaFood - Kucinich to schedule Enforcement Oversight Hearings; Tierney may bar NOAA from keeping fines

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Kucinich to schedule Enforcement Oversight Hearings; Tierney may bar NOAA from keeping fines

Congressman Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Domestic Policy Subcommittee, said he'll schedule an oversight hearing into the law enforcement problems at NOAA as spotlighted in a report by federal Department of Commerce Inspector General Todd Zinser.

And Congressman John Tierney — who called for the hearing, and is pushing for it to be held in Gloucester — said he was considering filing legislation to alter the Magnuson-Stevens Act by barring the agency, which issues fines, from keeping those revenues for its own use.

Tierney said he'd like to see the oversight hearing held in Gloucester.

The call for the IG's investigation began here last year after NOAA law enforcement filed a 59-count complaint against the Gloucester Seafood Display Auction and attempted to close the business for 120 days and impose a $335,500 fine.

After a six-month 2009 investigation that began in Gloucester and other Northeast posts, Zinser last month announced finding that NOAA law enforcement agents were largely unsupervised and operating autonomously, and carried out their tasks as if they were criminal law enforcement agents rather than administrative officers.

Zinser also focused on the Asset Forfeiture Fund, which was holding $8.5 million in penalties and had no apparent oversight or audit. In her response to the IG's report, NOAA chief administrator Jane Lubchenco directed that the fund be transferred to the control of the chief counsel for NOAA.

Read the complete story at The Gloucester Daily Times.

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