Dozens of U.S. representatives sent a letter Monday to the head of the President’s Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force with concerns that the policy will block offshore energy development and cost jobs.
Sixty-nine House members, including Alaska Rep. Don Young, signed the letter in which they responded to the task force’s interim report released last month.
The task force is working on a national policy for governance of the country’s oceans, coasts and Great Lakes. Two dozen senior policy members from numerous agencies are working on the national policy.
Washington Rep. Doc Hastings, the ranking Republican member of the House Natural Resources Committee, said it is important that the task force recognize multiple uses of the nation’s oceans, from fishing to energy development to recreation.