MEDIA RELEASE

Obama Administration officials will hold a public meeting of the Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force in Honolulu on Friday, July 9.

The meeting will be webcast live at http://wh-ceq.tipg.net and http://www.wh-ceq.tipg.net and at several locations via PEACESAT (see below).

The meeting provides an opportunity for senior members of the Obama Administration to hear local and regional ideas, questions and concerns about climate change impacts in Hawaii and the Pacific and to describe federal planning efforts already underway.

In 2009, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) initiated the Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force, which includes representatives from more than 20 Federal Agencies.

When President Obama signed the Executive Order on Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, and Economic Performance, on Oct. 5, 2009, he called on the Task Force to develop, within one year, Federal recommendations to reduce vulnerability to climate change impacts both domestically and internationally.

An interim progress report was released in March 2010 and can be viewed at www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/ceq/initiatives/adaptation

WHO: Dr. Larry Robinson, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and Deputy Administrator of NOAA; Robyn Thorson, Regional Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Pacific Region; Deanna Spooner, Coordinator, Pacific Islands Climate Change Cooperative

WHAT: Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force Public Meeting and Press Conference

WHEN: Friday, July 9, 1:00 – 4:30 p.m. public meeting. A press conference will be held at 12:15 p.m.

PEACESAT VIDEO CONFERENCE LOCATIONS (all times are local)

* East-West Center, Univ. of Hawaii at Manoa (1- 4:30 p.m.); Imin Conference Center, Keoni Auditorium, 1777 East-West Road, Honolulu (contact Marshall Kingsbury, 808-944-7171)

* Maui Community College Kaaike 103 (1-4:30 p.m.); 310 Kaahumanu Ave.; Kahului (contact Mike Albert, 808-984-3620)

* Kauai Community College LRC 121 (1-4:30 p.m.); 3-1901 Kaumualii Highway; Lihue (contact Patrick Watase, 808-245-8357)

* UH-Hilo LRC 344 (1-4:30 p.m.); 200 W. Kawili St.; Library Building 3rd Floor; Hilo (contact David Scott, 808-974-7573)

* ASPA Tafuna Conference Room (11:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.); American Samoa Power Authority; P.O. Box PPB; Pago Pago (contact Tiresa Lutu, 684-699-8829)

* University of Guam SCI 120 (9 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.); P.O. Box 5278; Mangilao (contact Bruce Best, 671-735-2620)

* CNMI PSS NOC (9 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.); P.O. Box 501370; Saipan (contact Reynaldo Susulin, 670-237-3039)