Environmental groups are pushing back against attempts to block the Obama administration's National Ocean Policy as lawmakers consider legislation that will direct funding for oceans programs next year.

The leaders of 12 major national environmental groups sent a letter to House and Senate leaders yesterday asking for their support for the National Ocean Policy.

The letter also asks leaders to resist efforts to block funding for the policy, stating "strong opposition to the inclusion of any funding prohibition or restriction on the implementation of this policy in any appropriations bills."

"The National Ocean Policy improves the way we manage our ocean, reducing duplicative efforts and conflicting government actions, and focusing attention on the most serious issues jeopardizing ocean health," the groups wrote.

The effort won support from the leaders of a dozen high-profile nongovernment organizations, including the Natural Resources Defense Council, Oceana, the Ocean Conservancy, the Pew Environment Group, Earthjustice, the Sierra Club, the World Wildlife Fund, the League of Conservation Voters and Physicians for Social Responsibility.

The letter came as the House prepares to debate the fiscal 2013 spending bill that will direct funding for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other agencies. The White House Office of Management and Budget came out against the proposal last night and threatened to veto the bill, saying it does not include enough funding to support NOAA's fisheries and ocean programs (see related story).

But GOP lawmakers want to see language that would block funding for any work on the National Ocean Policy until they can get more information on where the administration is headed with the effort.

President Obama signed an executive order last summer that launched the National Ocean Plan and created a National Ocean Council -- an attempt to improve coordination and planning on marine issues from the more than two dozen federal agencies that oversee actions that affect the ocean.

The executive order calls for regional bodies across the United States to begin "coastal and marine spatial planning." The marine plans are intended to address growing demands on the ocean for fishing, transportation, energy and recreation. The effort draws on recommendations made by the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy in 2004.

The effort was applauded by ocean scientists, environmentalists and some ocean industry groups, but it has created anxiety for some ocean users and political backlash from Republicans on Capitol Hill, who fear it would create a new bureaucracy directing ocean development.

House Natural Resources Chairman Doc Hastings of Washington state and other Republican lawmakers have been trying to put a hold on the ocean policy. Hastings has asked appropriators to block funding for the policy in all of next year's spending bills.

The bill the House Appropriations Committee approved last month avoided any broad language to block funding for the policy, but Hastings and other lawmakers have said they are considering other options, which could include amendments to the spending measure.

Hastings and 23 other GOP lawmakers sent appropriators letters asking them to cut off funding for the program, the first shots in an ongoing volley of letters on the issue.

Major industry groups -- including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, American Farm Bureau Federation, American Petroleum Institute and Alaska Oil and Gas Association -- also sent a letter asking for a spending freeze on the policy.

On the other side, more than 200 business leaders, investors and consultants signed onto a letter from the trade group Environmental Entrepreneurs last month asking lawmakers to support and fund the ocean policy.

Representatives from 17 ocean and coastal-based industries -- including deepwater wind, tourism and fishing industries -- also met with Capitol Hill aides and sent a letter last month seeking support for the policy.