Kongsberg Simulators to Enhance GoM Offshore Training
‘Fideicomiso de Formación y Capacitación para el Personal de la Marina Mercante Nacional’ (FIDENA), on behalf of Mexico’s Secretariat of Communications and Transportation (SCT) has selected Kongsberg Maritime offshore simulators for the Marine Education Center in Ciudad del Carmen, Campeche. Appointed by SCT, FIDENA is the educational institution in charge of managing, organizing and developing the formal education of all seafarers in Mexico. As Mexico’s only institution offering higher level programs in maritime education…
MMS Awards $67M for CIAP Grants in 2009
The Minerals Management Service (MMS) announced that it awarded $67m in grants to Alabama, Alaska, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas and their political subdivisions in 2009 through the Coastal Impact Assistance Program (CIAP). Created by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the CIAP provides funding to the six Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas producing states to mitigate the impacts of energy development on marine and coastal areas. MMS awarded funds to the eligible states in 2009 for 86 projects - Alabama, three; Alaska, 14; Louisiana, 29, Mississippi, 20; and Texas, 20. California’s first grant award is expected in the coming weeks. The majority of the projects focus on conservation…
Gulf Coast Ocean Policy Task Force Public Meeting
Obama Administration officials will hold a Gulf Coast Regional Ocean Policy Task Force Public Meeting in New Orleans on Monday, October 19, 2009. The Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force, led by White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Nancy Sutley, consists of senior-level officials from Administration agencies, departments, and offices. The Task Force, established by President Obama via presidential memorandum on June 12, is charged with developing a recommendation for a national policy that ensures protection, maintenance, and restoration of oceans, our coasts and the Great Lakes. It will also recommend a framework for improved stewardship, and effective coastal and marine spatial planning.
MMS $276k Grant for Marine Education Center
The Minerals Management Service (MMS) has awarded a $276,000 grant through the Coastal Impact Assistance Program (CIAP) to Mississippi’s Department of Marine Resources to build a new Marine Education Center in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. This is the first CIAP grant to be awarded since the state’s overall plan was approved in February 2009. The CIAP was created by the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Through the program, MMS will provide $250m in grants annually, from 2007-2010, to six eligible Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas producing states – Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Alaska, California and Texas. The funding to Mississippi included $30.9m for each of the fiscal years 2007 and 2008 and $23.8m for each of the fiscal years 2009 and 2010.
