50 



Mr. F. G. Blake. I am F. G. Blake, member of the California Ad- 

 visory Commission on Marine and Coastal Resources. I want to com- 

 ment on Mr. Gregg's presentation. I quite agree with him that partici- 

 pation of the appropriate Federal agencies in te plannning process of 

 the coastal zone authorities is quite appropriate. I also (|uite agree with 

 him that the establishment of priorities in the resolution of multiple- 

 use conflicts is also important, but unless I misunderstood him, I dis- 

 agree with his comment that one of the things lacking in the legislation 

 before us at the present time is the establishment of these priorities. 



While I agree that the priorities should be established, I do not think 

 they should be established b}" legislation. It seems to me that that is 

 one of the principal functions of the coastal zone authorities that are 

 to be established. The priorities in Xew England, or on Long Island 

 Sound, will not fit the priorities that would be best for Chesapeake 

 Bay, or the Gulf Coast, or California. It seems to me that the estab- 

 lishment of priorities should be left out of the present national 

 legislation. 



Mr. Sprague. Would jon like equal time, Mr. Gregg ? 



Mr. Gregg. Well, I think I would not want to j'ield on the basic 

 point that if the Congress of the United States is going to express a 

 statement of policy relative to the coastal zone that it ought not to 

 state that it is the intent of the Congress that the natural system of 

 values which is represented in the coastal zone is going to be preserved. 

 It seems to me that if we can't recognize that the preservation and 

 enhancement of these natural values is in fact a constraint on other 

 uses of the coastal zones, then we can expect with something approach- 

 ing confidence that ultimately these natural systems will be lost. 



I think the defensive posture that we have been in where a cost-bene- 

 fit evaluation is carried out tends to weigh the decision in favor of the 

 alteration, because Ave simply have not recognized this ecological sys- 

 tem as a system. When we keep taking away 1 percent here and a half 

 percent there and 5 percent here we wind up losing something which 

 cannot be replaced in order to provide services and values which in 

 some cases can be satisfied elsewhere. It does seem to me that it is 

 appropriate for the Congress to declare an intent to recognize and 

 protect these systems as some sort of priority system. 



May I add one sentence to my remarks before you begin. This doesn't 

 mean that other uses are going to be foreclosed because obviously they 

 shouldn't be. 



Mr. Sprague. Someone on the aisle there. 



Mr. E. C. Stephan. As I understand it, we are meeting here at the 

 request^ of the House Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee, 

 primarily on the subject of this bill which was given to us as we 

 came in. 



It is a bill that provides for State-Federal coordination, primarily 

 through the implementation of the recommendations of the establish- 

 ment of NOAA. This is an excellent approach. 



Again, we have to thank the Congress for taking the leadership, 

 first, in establishing the Commission that recommended NOAA, and 

 now in establishing this much-needed way of coordinating the Coastal 

 Zone operations around the country. 



The thing that I question is : Can you tie this to NOAA, which may 

 be 2 or 3 years away from establishment ? I think the urgent need for 



