On February 10, 2009, United States Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar detailed a four-part strategy to establish a comprehensive offshore energy plan. First, Salazar extended the public comment period on President Bush’s OCS plan by an additional 180 days. He explained the extension was necessary to “restore order to a broken process.” Second, Salazar directed the MMS, USGS and other department scientists to assemble all available information pertaining to offshore resources, both conventional and renewable, and about the potential impacts of development. The Secretary expects to be provided with a report containing this information within 45 days. The third part of Salazar’s strategy will use this report to identify any areas requiring more information and will create a plan to best gather this information. Finally, Salazar announced that in the coming months he will issue a final rulemaking on offshore renewable energy resources. The Secretary believes this rulemaking “will allow us to move from the ‘oil and gas only’ approach of the previous Administration to the comprehensive energy plan that we need.”
 

To read Secretary Salazar’s remarks, please use the following link: http://www.doi.gov/secretary/speeches/021009_speech.html