of combining such operations with offshore port facihties and other possible 

 uses. 



For shore plants, the AEC, following the court action on the proposed 

 Calvert Cliffs nuclear powerplant in Maryland, revised its Environmental 

 Impact Statement requirements for all nuclear powerplants, including those 

 scheduled for coastal area construction. Prior to the court decision, only 

 radiological matters were included in the Impact Statements evaluated by the 

 AEC. Now, discussion of all environmental factors is being required. 



International Affairs 



In February 1971, President Nixon directed that the United States take 

 international initiatives to promote the banning of unregulated ocean dump- 

 ing and to place strict limits on ocean disposal of wastes harmful to the en- 

 vironment. To this end, the U.S. delegation to both meetings of the Inter- 

 Governmental Working Group on Marine Pollution for the June 1972 United 

 Nations Conference on the Human Environment proposed a draft ocean- 

 dumping convention which would require the establishment of national sys- 

 tems to regulate ocean dumping with internationally agreed principles for 

 the protection of ocean water quality and the marine envinronment. No 

 conclusive action was taken, so a third intergovernmental meeting was held 

 at Reykjavik, Iceland, which produced draft articles for such a convention 

 for consideration and action at the Conference. Also included for considera- 

 tion at this Conference are a comprehensive plan for combating marine 

 pollution and a number of proposals concerning the establishment of a world- 

 wide network for monitoring the land, sea, and air environments. 



The United States also made proposals in the United Nations Law of the 

 Sea Preparatory Committee for the regulation of marine pollution arising 

 from exploration and exploitation of the resources of the seabed and subsoil. 



On October 14, 1971, the United States deposited instruments of ratifi- 

 cation of the 1969 Inter-Governmental Maritime Consultative Organiza- 

 tion (IMCO) Interv^ention Convention and the 1969 amendments to the 

 1954 IMCO Oil Pollution Convention. These international agreements, 

 respectively, authorize coastal States to take necessary measures to prevent, 

 mitigate, or eliminate "grave and imminent" danger of oil pollution to their 

 coastlines and to extend the area of application and increase the stringency 

 of all discharge standards in accordance with the 1954 Convention. The 

 effect of these measures will be strengthened as a result of the international 

 Convention on the Establishment of an International Compensation Fund 

 for Oil Pollution Damage, negotiated by 49 countries in December 1971, 

 to insure that full and adequate compensation will be available to victims 

 of oil pollution incidents. 



The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Committee on the 

 Challenges of a Modern Society passed a resolution calling for the prohibi- 

 tion of all intentional discharges of oil in the course of vessel operation by 

 1975 or at least by the end of the decade. This resolution is now being im- 

 plemented in a draft convention being prepared by IMCO with U.S. 

 support. The draft convention will also deal with prohibitions on the dis- 

 charge of noxious substances. International agreement on this convention 

 will be sought at the 1973 IMCO Conference on Marine Pollution. 



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