68 



and tone respecting the trend of estuarine deterioration by interstate pollution. 

 Now federal and state government has been attempting to gain knowledge needed 

 to regulate the same. A great variety of approaches are being attempted. 



Technological, scientific, commercial and industrial advances and progress 

 have found man in a position of out-witting himself. Industrial waste and 

 detergents each invade the wetland, effluents pour indiscriminately and reclama- 

 tion schemes trap and spread pollutants, all without any respect to the standard 

 governmental jurisdictional boundaries. 



Yes, the multiple use dilemma continues to expand without effective national 

 or regional regulation. The absence of a governmental structure vested with the 

 responsibility and power to fully meet the challenge is shocking. A strong and 

 effective and compulsory type of entity is needed. 



III. PUBLIC INTEREST-NATIONAL INTEKEST 



The public interest of which we are concerned is a broad one — it is a local 

 one ; it is a state one ; and overridingly it is a national one. An attempt to define 

 "Public Interest" is always a tidy mess. Thus, no such attempt will be made here. 

 However, the tempo of the public interest can be felt rhetorically in a statement 

 made by General Woodbury right before the conference of the National Council on 

 Marine Resources in Williamsburg, Virginia : 



"What is this public interest we are talking about? What public are we talking 

 about? Are we talking about the local public — the people who are employed in 

 the Coastal Zone, who live in the neighborhood, who have homes along the shore, 

 the people who commute into the area for jobs? Is this the public we are concerned 

 with ? Or is it the using public, people who come from a long way off to swim or 

 to use the marinas or the other facilities of the ocean or the lakes? Is it the users 

 of the facilities that are there or is it the users of the facilities that can't be 

 there because the use has been pre-empted by some other use? * * * There is a 

 real need obviously, for research of and research in the public interest if the 

 determination of public interest among competing interests particularly where 

 fish and wildlife and aesthetics are concerned, is to be based on facts rather than 

 on emotions. And this research is needed by whomever and however decisions are 

 made in the public interest. * * * And then we need to develop a rational 

 approach in order to make a determination in the public interest. We need to be 

 able to analyze the effects of these alternatives. We need to be willing to plan 

 together and to communicate one with another. It is not enough to just oppose 

 development. * * * Obviously, the use of the coastal zone is a matter of concern 

 to all elements of our national fabric. All elements have a role in the planning for 

 and the regTilating of the use of this Coastal Zone. * * *" 



The public interest in any given instance could be a local interest^it could 

 be a state interest and it could be a federal interest. In the estuarine and coastal 

 zone it is all, i.e., local, state and federal. The federal interest reflects the over- 

 riding national interest which provides the legal and constitutional jugular vein 

 for federal jurisdiction. Repeatedly, the nature of the estuarine and the problems 

 that are being generated therein are stated to be unimpressed and unimpaired 

 by state or local boundaries. The pollution in the Raritan River Basin in New 

 Jersey must affect the coastal and estuarine areas of Staten Island and Delaware. 

 The extinguishing of valuable fish and living marine resources in New England 

 must affect the interest of those citizens in North Carolina. The conservation of 

 a basically dead estuarine area in Virginia must affect the present housing need 

 of Washington, D.C. The coastal and estuarine zone constitute a system — they 

 constitute an interrelationship between all states ; they constitute a problem 

 which can only be capably handled by a true and effective federal interface. This 

 zone is truly one for national concern — it truly is a concern of the national 

 interest. 



IV. PEESENT MAZE— LOCAL, STATE AND FEDEP.AL BOLES 



The present maze of governmental roles, local, state and federal in the coastal 

 zone are basically disjointed and uncoordinated. Essential to a truly effective 

 system and structure is a set system, responsibility, control, coordination, finan- 

 cial strength and public support. The system must be both flexible and rigid. 

 When put to this formula, the present system sadly fails. 



A disjointed parade of different bands playing varying times and duplications 

 of lyrics appears to be the picture of the federal maze. The activities and pro- 

 grams of the agencies have proven to be individually credible and essential. 

 Approximately five departments of the Executive, with numerous sub-bureaus 

 and branches and related foundations and institutions, presently participate in 



