34 



Ms. Stasikowski. We have not, but what we have done is relied 

 on Natural Resources Defense Council estimates; and there we 

 know that the figures range from $541 per beach mile to $7,500 per 

 mile, with the average being somewhere between $1,000 to $2,000 

 per beach mile. 



Mr. Laughlin. I knew it would be expensive at some point. 



Yes, ma'am. 



Ms. Chasis. Yes, I just wanted to say that in our report on page 

 23 we summarize the information; and we sent out a survey to all 

 the States and many, many counties around the coast to get this 

 information, and it is summarized here. And when you look — the 

 programs we have summarized are ones which are reasonably com- 

 prehensive in terms of monitoring, and the costs are really modest 

 compared to the recreational use of these areas and the economic 

 stake in terms of tourism. 



Mr. Laughlin. I agree they are modest when you have several 

 thousand people per square mile or per mile on the beach, but they 

 get exorbitant when you have got 50 or 60 or 70 miles of beach 

 with nobody there; and that is my concern, that you focus on the 

 fact that this legislation is needed in places and not needed in 

 other places, and I want to be sure that you recognize, while the 

 beaches in New Jersey may be quite crowded, there is some beach 

 area in other States that is uninhabited because it is not accessible. 

 That is the problem in the area I am talking about. Unless you 

 have got a nice boat to get across the bay, you don't get there. 



And just to give you a reference, I have flown by in helicopters, 

 as I am sure our Commissioner has, for miles and not seen one 

 human being on the boats — beach, and there has been no hurri- 

 cane or no cold weather. In fact, it has been ideal weather and 

 there is no one out there. That is my concern. What is good for 

 New Jersey and their miles and density of people on the beach will 

 be painful for other areas with no people on the beach. 



Ms. Chasis. There is nothing in this bill that requires that every 

 beach of coastline be monitored. I mean, it specifically requires 

 EPA to establish monitoring requirements that take into account 

 frequency of use, the frequency or the proximity to pollution 

 sources. If there is no pollution source that is close at hand, even if 

 there is a lot of use, then you don't need to monitor. 



So I think it is unrealistic to think that this is going to be so 

 heavy handed as to say every mile of beach is going to have to be 

 monitored. 



Mr. Laughlin. Is there a provision there that if a State has a 

 good, sound beach monitoring program, such as Commissioner 

 Mauro has outlined that we have in Texas, that a State is exempt? 



Ms. Chasis. The provision basically — it provides that if a State 

 can come in and show that they will not — their program that is in 

 place will not impair compliance with water quality standards and 

 can assure public safety, then they can be exempt. So there is that 

 out. 



But I must say that in Texas — Texas does not have a comprehen- 

 sive monitoring program for its ocean and bay recreational beach- 

 es. There are particular programs for Corpus Christi and Galveston 

 County but it does not have a systematic program. 



