Thursday, more than 200 people attended a public hearing in Providence on ocean policy. Almost all who testified praised the interim report of the President Barack Obama's Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force, but their recommendations for regulation of the United States coastline varied widely.

Streamline regulations to help wind power projects win quicker approval, advised Dennis Duffy, vice president of Cape Wind Associates, developer of a huge wind energy project off Cape Cod.

Shipping routes, "must not be arbitrarily moved for someone else's convenience," countered Beth Gedney of the Passenger Vessel Association, a Cape Wind opponent.

"We let our military, with reckless abandon, kill marine animals," complained Greg Gerritt, Friends of the Moshassuck founder and Green Party activist.

"The [fishing] industry has been bled to death by environmentalists," charged Pt. Judith fisherman Tina Jackson.

"It's like the Oklahoma [land] Rush," summarized Polly Bradley, co-founder of Safer Waters in Massachusetts. Differing interests, she explained, are claiming portions of the oceans, just like the white settlers carved up the former Native American territory in 1889.

In June, Obama created the task force of 24 top policy administrators from the United States Department of Interior, the United States Navy, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the United States Coast Guard and other federal agencies. In mid-September, they filed an interim report that calls for strengthened data collection, enhanced water quality and comprehensive ocean planning.

Those vague recommendations caused little controversy at the hearing. A final report, due in December, will recommend a "framework" to develop a national coastal and ocean plan. That report, predicts Nancy Sutley, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, could recommend changes in federal law to require federal use zoning for oceans. Most at the hearing endorsed the idea of a federal ocean plan, but designating specific ocean areas for fishing or wind turbines or conservation, will certainly cause conflict.

Grover Fugate, executive director of Rhode Island's Coastal Resources Management Council, sees the task force as a positive development. "It's something we're going to need as we deal with climate change," he said in an interview, noting that the task force is also timely as Congress is about to debate climate change and energy legislation.

Thursday was the panel's only public hearing on the East Coast and it produced more than two hours of public comment that highlighted ongoing controversies that an ocean plan must address.

Perhaps the interim report's most far-reaching recommendation is for an "ecosystem based approach." Martha's Vineyard selectman Warren Doty noted that approach was not in evidence at a recent meeting of the National Marine Fisheries Council. The regulatory group debated separate management policies for scallops, then yellow tail flounder, then herring and then red crab, Doty reported. Nevertheless, he praised the approach as did Janet Coit, The Nature Conservancy's Rhode Island state director, as well as other environmentalists.

The interim report's call for coordination between federal agencies also brought praise. Without reform, said Save The Bay Advocacy Director John Torgan, federal policy will be "tragically ineffective." To illustrate how different federal agencies pursue conflicting policies, he and Conservation Law Foundation Vice President Tricia Jedele cited recent history on Mount Hope Bay. To improve winter flounder habitat, the Rhode Island attorney general and the United States Environmental Protection Agency forced construction of cooling towers at the Brayton Point power plant. Shortly afterwards, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the United States Army Corps of Engineers and United States Coast Guard took steps to encourage development of a Liquid Natural Gas terminal in the bay, demonstrating said Jedele, "a complete lack of consideration of the ecosystem."

Elizabeth Hernberg, managing director of Sprague Energy, did not discuss Mount Hope Bay, but warned that any coastal plan should protect shipping lanes, especially those needed to transport home heating oil in Narragansett Bay.

Bluewater Wind LLC president Peter Mandelstam advocated for a different form of energy. Achieving 20 percent of America's energy needs from wind by 2020 is a conservative goal, he claimed. The New England coast is an excellent area for wind turbine development, he noted, due to steady winds, a stable ocean floor, proximity to electricity markets and political support for renewable energy.

Other speakers offered different suggestions. To increase public awareness of climate change and help government agencies plan, Edward Fratto, executive director of Northeast States Emergency Consortium, called for an annual sea level rise forecast.

Mason Weinrich, executive director of The Whale Center of New England in Gloucester, Mass., argued that preservation of endangered species should be a priority.

Sierra Club activist Barry Schiller urged the task force to regulate plastic litter, address human population growth and to challenge the fossil fuel industries that cause global warming.

Wearing a bright yellow "Don't Tread on Me" T-shirt, Pt. Judith commercial fisherman Brian Loftes was one of the few speakers to advocate less regulation, quoting President Ronald Reagan's statement that "Government isn't the solution, it's the problem."

After the panel issues a final report in December, says task force chair Sutley, it will not hold public hearings but will accept written comments.