to the special needs of wetlands and 

 f loodplains . 



The Estuary Protection Act could 

 be seriously implemented. Undoubtly, 

 OMB and the Congress would be more 

 inclined to grant the necessary fund- 

 ing if the responsibilities of the 

 various departments under the act be- 

 came more clearly delinated. 



The Coastal Zone Management Act 

 could be strengthened. Because the 

 program is voluntary, the states 

 should have more incentive to parti- 

 cipate. Mitigation funds under the 

 Coastal Energy Impact Program are a 

 part of that incentive. These funds 

 for the mitigation of effects caused 

 by the siting of energy facilities 

 are only available to those states 

 which develop a coastal zone manage- 

 ment plan. Care must be taken that 

 this funding is not abused, but that 

 it remains available to cooperating 

 states . 



Regional or interstate planning 

 must be encouraged. Within that 

 scheme, some thought should be given 

 to the funding of those states which 

 are currently ineligible for CZM 

 funds. The CZM Act must acknowledge 

 in its eligiblity determinations that 

 a state which has no coastal zone of 

 its own may still be a major factor 



in the preservation of the estuarine 

 system. Without the inclusion of 

 these states, the act cannot pretend 

 to consider the freshwater inflow 

 needs of the coastal zone, and thus 

 it cannot pretend to comprehensively 

 consider the health and productivity 

 of the estuary. 



All of this, of course, is more 

 easily said than done. But as we are 

 often told, recognition of a problem 

 is the better half of solving it. 



I would like to see the Water 

 Resources Council become part of the 

 solution. And, that will take your 

 help. The council provides a ready 

 forum for discussion and solution of 

 interagency coordination problems 

 and of policy differences. I have 

 the authority to propose the agenda 

 for council action, and I have a 

 small but competent staff to back- 

 ground the issues and propose the 

 options. But, unless the members are 

 disposed to act, unless they sense 

 in their agencies some interest in 

 a problem and some willingness to 

 yield some portion of agency turf, 

 very little will happen. 



The council members are, in 



many cases, the secretaries of 



your departments. If you push, and 



we pull, our estuaries will be the 

 winners . 



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