As I am writing this blog, a group of beach access advocates, mostly from Dare County, are heading to Washington, D.C., to meet with officials of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) about the National Park Service?s proposed rule for off-road vehicles on Cape Hatteras National Seashore.
The never-ending process of formulating a final rule is now in ?recess? while the OMB reviews the Park Service proposed rule, based on the Park Service?s Final Environmental Impact Statement and preferred alternative, which is Alternative F ? even more onerous than the despised consent decree, under which beaches have been managed since 2008.
The Park Service?s proposed rule has not been made public and won?t be released to the public for 60 days of comment until after the OMB review, which averages two months but could take longer.
However, even though the public doesn?t know what is in the final rule, OMB welcomes meetings with groups and individuals interested in the outcome of the rulemaking process.
It?s just another strange chapter in the ongoing saga of rulemaking here.
But this group of access advocates is going to meet with OMB anyway, sort of with the philosophy of ?nothing ventured, nothing gained..?
The meeting has been arranged by the American Sportfishing Association, which has an office in Washington and will include representatives of that group and Warren Judge and Allen Burrus, chairman and vice-chairman of the Dare County Board of Commissioners; Bobby Outten, Dare County manager and attorney; John Couch, president of the Outer Banks Preservation Association, and OBPA members David Scarborough and Bob Eakes, and Dr. Mike Berry, an outspoken access advocate with a doctorate in public health and a 28-year career with the Environmental Protection Agency who is currently a writer and part-time consultant, specializing in the evaluation of environmental quality and human health effects, environmental management strategies and policy.
The group has been told they will have 30 minutes with OMB officials on Thursday afternoon, June 23.
They will be making points about a number of issues on the rulemaking process that will eventually lead to a basis for managing all access ? both for ORV drivers and pedestrians — for years to come.
Their major points will be about the lack of public access and transparency in the rulemaking process, the ?science? that the Park Service says is the basis for its resource management policies, and the economic analysis that was the basis for Alternative F and, thus, the final rule.
I?ve written about all of these issues at great length in the past few years. In fact, I?ve been writing about ORV rulemaking for almost all of my 20 years as a journalist covering Hatteras and Ocracoke.
This week I am going to give the floor to Mike Berry and the Outer Banks Chamber of Commerce.
Berry has written a terrific blog about the OMB review of the proposed ORV rule, which he posted on Facebook last weekend.
The Outer Banks Chamber of Commerce wrote five pages of comments on the economic analysis and a couple other issues during the public comment period last year on the Park Service?s Draft Environmental Impact Statement.
I linked to the chamber?s comments then, but in the avalanche of public outcry, many readers may have missed them. It?s worth another look.
The Outer Banks Chamber of Commerce, by the way, is also working on responding to OMB as it considers the proposed rule.
According to Robin Mann, president of the Board of Directors, the chamber has asked for help from the attorney advocate?s office in the Small Business Administration on the shortcomings in the economic analysis.
?We have asked the attorney advocate?s office to assure that changes are made to the rule to protect our small businesses and provide adequate protection for the species,? she said.
Berry and the chamber have focused on the exact issues we all need to be ready to focus on when the proposed rule is opened for public comments, maybe sometime later this year.
It is not likely that the OMB officials with whom the access advocates meet will have much more to say than, ?Thank you. Nice to have met you.?
But if more news comes from the meeting, we will let you know in a postscript tomorrow.
POSTSCRIPT
Members of the Outer Banks Preservation Association and Dare County officials who traveled to Washington last Thursday to meet with the Office of Management and Budget about the proposed off-road vehicle rule for the Cape Hatteras National Seashore were encouraged by the reception they received.
John Couch, OBPA president, said that the group was surprised by the number of officials from several different agencies and departments who were present.
In addition to OMB staff members, Couch said there were representatives from the National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of Interior legal staff, and the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
The meeting was scheduled for 30 minutes and actually lasted about 45. Six of the access advocates made presentations.
?From my point of view, I thought the meeting was well worth the trip and effort,? said access advocate Mike Berry. ?It was very professional, tightly focused on adverse economic impacts, unsettled science and questionable environmental benefits, and a very flawed rule-making process and regulation package currently under OMB review. We got the message across, as planned, in about 40 minutes. They did not try to cut us off.?
Couch agreed that the trip was worth the effort.
Of course, the group got no information on what is in the proposed rule nor did any of the government officials comment on the validity of any of the issues that were raised.
?There is no doubt in my mind that OMB and DOI realize they have a problem with a flawed rulemaking package,? Berry said after the meeting. ?They got the message and looked concerned. How they will deal with that problem is unknowable at this point.?
Stay tuned. The proposed rule will eventually be made public and the public will have 60 days to comment.
CLICK HERE TO READ DR. MIKE BERRY’S BLOG
CLICK HERE TO READ THE COMMENTS BY THE OUTER BANKS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
CLICK HERE TO READ THE EDITOR?S MAY 23 BLOG ON THE STATUS OF THE RULE AND OMB REVIEW
