The ocean supports us in countless ways—it feeds us and provides half the oxygen we breathe. It is a source of jobs and recreation, and its wetlands and reefs protect us from mounting storms. The ocean is also a carbon sink and a powerhouse of climate solutions.
A healthy ocean is fundamental to mitigating the worst effects of climate change and safeguarding marine ecosystems and coastal communities. Yet, federal climate policy has largely ignored the ocean’s key role in combatting the climate crisis. With the Ocean-Based Climate Solutions Act (H.R. 3764), Representative Raúl Grijalva, chair of the House Committee on Natural Resources, has brought the ocean into the climate policy conversation with notable focus and ambition. This bill offers a broad suite of solutions, several of which we highlight below.
H.R. 3764 proposes key reforms to energy policy that would help the United States to meet international climate commitments. Last year the Biden administration set a target of reducing U.S. emissions by 50 to 52 percent below 2005 levels in 2030, and the ocean is a key player both in reducing our dependence on fossil fuels and transitioning to clean energy sources.
H.R. 3764 would amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) to prohibit new offshore oil and gas leasing and seismic exploration for mineral resources in most areas of the outer continental shelf. This prohibition notably excludes the central and Western Gulf of Mexico planning areas, which are currently where the vast majority of offshore drilling currently occurs. Still, protection of our coasts from future drilling would be a victory for coastal communities. Simultaneously, the bill seeks to ramp up offshore wind energy, setting a national goal under OCSLA of producing 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030 and calling for the development of best practices and increased funding to ensure that offshore wind development expands without harming whales and other marine life. H.R. 3764 would also set new reporting requirements for greenhouse gases from shipping vessels, which account for 90 percent of the world’s trade and burn massive amounts of fossil fuel.
Healthy, functioning ecosystems are essential to addressing the twin crises of climate change and rapidly declining biodiversity. H.R. 3764 would support the Biden administration’s goal to protect 30 percent of our waters by 2030, including by promoting a detailed analysis of gaps in marine biodiversity protections.
The bill would also strengthen tools to protect marine habitat under the federal fisheries law, the Magnuson-Stevens Act. Under current law, federal agencies conducting activities that may adversely affect designated “essential” fish habitat (such as dredging, sand mining, or energy exploration and development) are required to consult with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on impacts to such habitat. The process lacks teeth, however, as federal agencies must consider recommendations from NOAA to minimize impacts but are not required to adopt them—making it notably weaker than consultations under the Endangered Species Act. H.R. 3764 would strengthen the requirement for federal agencies to avoid or mitigate impacts of projects on essential fish habitat.
To fully address the ocean’s role in tackling climate change, a coordinated international effort is needed that elevates Indigenous and local knowledge. H.R. 3764 would restore and strengthen U.S. leadership in the international ocean space by honoring the U.S. commitment to the Arctic Council to reduce “black carbon” emissions (a type of fine particulate matter). The bill would also create a Tribal Resilience Program within the Bureau of Indian Affairs to support Native American leaders and provide grants for climate resilience activities.
“Blue carbon,” the carbon stored in the ocean by seagrasses, salt marshes, and mangroves, is a key ocean-climate solution. These same ecosystems that store up to four times the amount of carbon in a forest also protect coastal communities by limiting impacts from erosion, storms, and flooding. H.R. 3764 would create a new Blue Carbon Program within NOAA and provide targeted support for NOAA to better understand, map, protect, and restore blue carbon ecosystems.
In a rapidly warming ocean, fish stocks are shifting to new geographic areas and are struggling to adapt to extreme events like marine heat waves. H.R. 3764 would increase the capacity and coordination of fishery managers to respond to climate change under the Magnuson-Stevens Act’s regional management framework. It includes new programs to jumpstart the production and use of climate-related science and data, and it also calls on NOAA Fisheries to identify actions to address management challenges posed by shifting fish populations. H.R. 3764 would also crack down on subsidies in trade agreements that contribute to overfishing or illegal fishing.
H.R. 3764 offers innovative approaches in several other areas, by protecting vulnerable marine mammal populations from ship strikes and underwater noise, reducing plastic in the ocean with a tax on virgin plastic, and helping coastal communities adapt to sea level rise.
Representative Grijalva’s Ocean-Based Climate Solutions Act, which has picked up 40 cosponsors in the 117th Congress, is an essential step in harnessing the power of the ocean to tackle the climate crisis. The bill is also doing double duty by educating policy makers and helping to shape Congress’s and the Biden administration’s climate policies. As this pioneering bill advances through Congress, conservation, climate, and environmental justice organizations and partners will continue to fight for strong ocean climate action. It is one of the most important steps we can take to protect vulnerable coastal communities, marine wildlife, and the natural systems that are essential to life on earth.
