V-105 



with authority to hear and determine coastal boundary questions 

 and controversies involving proprietary interests of the States. 



In addition, the Supreme Court was asked in June 1969 to rule on a 



dispute betv/een the Federal Government and the thirteen Atlantic States 



over title to offshore lands (Docket No. 35 original, 37 Law Week 3483). 



These States claim that for the purposes of granting leases and 



collecting royalties for oil exploration and production, and 



on the basis of colonial charters granted by the British Government 



before the Constitution was adopted, their authority extends up 



to 100 miles on to the Outer Continental Shelf. Texas and Louisiana 



have also asserted jurisdiction beyond the 3-mile zone in another 



unresolved dispute. 



DIVERSITY OF STATUTES AMONG STATES 



A survey of intergovernmental relations in the coastal zone disclosed 



that: (V-3-2) 



"State statutes establishing distinctions between public 

 resources and private property and the extent of State 

 responsibility for management of public resources have 

 little in the way of uniformity. Even if legislatively 

 clear, the distinctions are difficult to fix on the 

 ground. The resulting situation is a legal nightmare." 



In effect there is a separate legal system for each coastal State and 



