65 



T»8t(mony of 



TEXAS LAND COMMISSIONER QARRY MAURO 



toth* 



HOUSE MERCHANT MARINE COMMITTEE 



SUBCOMMITTEE ON OCEANOGRAPHY AND THE GULF OF MEXICO 



Washington, D.C. 



July 16. 1993 



Mr. Chairman: 



Thank you for ihe opponunlty to speak to you about the Texas perspective on H.R. 31 , the 

 Beaches Environmental Assessment, Closure and Health Act. 



My rtame Is Garry Mauio, and i am the Texas Liuid Commissioner. 



As such, I am responsble lor more than 20.5 mlllton acres ol pubUc land, Including tour mlllton 

 acres of submerged coastal lands. 



Because of this, my olftoe, the General Land Office, is actively Involved In coastal Issues. 



We are the lead stale agency lor oil spu prevention and response. My staff is hard at wott< drafting 

 a comprehensive coastal management plan lor federal approval. Our Adopt-A-Beach program is 

 Internationally recognized as a model of volunteer involvement. 



Much of my tenure as Land Commissioner has been spent woiVIng to preserve and protect our 

 coastal resources. I wekx>me the opportunity to comment on this bill. 



I also want to append to this testimony the comments from the Texas Water Commlsston regarding 

 some of the technical issues involved In monitoring recreational waters. 



AS I read it, the Hughes Bill seems well suited tor the beaches of the northeast, especially states 

 such as New Jersey, New Yoil^, Maryland and Delaware. 



Because of the large population of these states and the proximity of population centers to the 

 coast, beaches in these stales have to deal with a high-density of visitors per mile. 



Because these state are contiguous, their beaches often share the same problems across state 

 borders. 



I applaud the authorities who had the guts to stand up and tell the tmth about the hazards on their 

 beaches. Their beach resort industry should not be made to suffer because of them. 



That said, Texas has a special perspective on this bill and the problems it seeks to address. 



Texas has 367 mfles of Gulf shoreline. Between the Gull and the mainland stretches the tongesi 

 barrier island in the world. 



It Is impossible to identify one specific area of our coastflno as being representative of the wtwie. 

 The Texas coastal envlnsnmenl Is simply too diverse to be able to do that. 



Our Gulf Is not an industrial sewer, as some vrould suggest, but it's not the Garden ol Eden either. 



