152 



Statement by Frederick O. Rouse, Jr., Chairman, Great Lakes Basin 

 Commission, Ann Arbor, Mich. 



The Great Lakes Basin Commission was established by Executive Order of the 

 President on April 20, 1967, under authority of the Water Resources Planning Act 

 of 1965 (Public Law 89-80). It is charged with the responsibility to "serve as the 

 principal agency for the coordination of Federal, State, inter-state, local and 

 iion-govei'nmental plans for development of water and related land resources . . ." 

 and prepare and keep up-to-date a coordinated joint plan for the basin. The 

 Commission was established at the request of five of the eight member states, 

 with the concurrence of the other three states, because of the general realization 

 of the pressing need for coordination among the multiplicity of Federal, State, 

 local and non-governmental organizations with strong interest and responsibilities 

 in water resource planning in the Great Lakes Basin. 



The Commission is pleased to note the ever increasing interest in natural 

 resource planning being evidenced at all levels of the public and private segments 

 in this country. We commend the significant efforts of the Commission on Marine 

 Science, Engineering and Resources in investigating the problems and as yet 

 untapped resources of the oceans and in suggesting more effective institutional 

 arrangements for their management. 



The Great Lakes Basin Commission wholeheartedly endorses the concept that 

 effective planning for utilization of our natural resources requires that continued, 

 coordinated, joint efforts from the earliest stages of all levels of the public and 

 private segments. Institutional arrangements which cast one level of Government 

 in the role of planner and another in the role of the reviewer, or "judge." or 

 which compartmentalize the planning functions by political entity, place restric- 

 tions on the planning process wliich severely reduce its effectiveness. The Great 

 Lakes Basin Commission was established in order to overcome the problems of the 

 single-state, single-Federal agency approach to the planning process. Its member 

 commissioners are unanimously enthusiastic about the progress made to date by 

 the Commission and the success of the coordinated joint approach to planning for 

 the effective utilization of the water and related land resources in the Great 

 Lakes Basin. 



A statement of the Vice-Chairman of the Great Lakes Basin Commission, Mr. 

 Fred E. Morr. Director. Ohio Department of Natural Resources, to the State and 

 Federal Water Officials in Salt Lake City, on the report, "Our Nation and the 

 Sea" reflects my viev\-s which I believe to be generally supported by other members 

 of the Commission. Mr. Morr states that. "As Vice-Chairman of the Great Lakes 

 Basin Commission, J am afforded a rare partnership with seven other Great Lakes 

 States. Because of the general structure and purpose of the Great Lakes Basin 

 Commission, I can look at the Report as it concerns that relationship." 



The following few paragraphs are paraphrased from his statement. 



The report quite obviously fleals with two major water areas — the oceans and 

 the Great Lakes. So much of the original intent of the Marine Study and its 

 proposals are significantly aimed at the Great Lakes. Fitting such a concept 

 equally to the Great Lakes, where geographic, physical, political, and institu- 

 tional arrangements are so sharply different, will bring the total report luider 

 fuller scrutiny and debate. The Great Lakes Shorelines (U.S. portion) represent 

 about one-tenth of the nation's shorelines. However, the Midwest region which 

 these shorelines serve, has about 4% of U.S. area. 17% of the population, and 

 produces close to half of the nation's taxes. The coastal zone for the Ohio jiortion 

 of Lake Erie, for example, would vary from 30 miles to 100 miles, and cover 

 about one-third of the state. The report recommends the establishment of coastal 

 zone authorities for the purpose of planning, regulating, acquiring and developing. 



These are familiar words to all of us. These same functions are also placed 

 in numerous state and Federal agencies, as v.-ell as in local governments. A new 

 overlapping coastal zone authority in any area could not easily superimpose itself 

 over all other entities without multiplying the confusion. 



There are a number of sections of the report. "Our Nation and the Sea." which 

 are of concern to us. First is the recommendation of establishment of coastal 

 zone authorities. These authorities would be created by the States. Their principal 

 purposes would be to plan and regulate land and water uses and to acquire and 

 develop land in the coastal zone. We feel that this proposal would have diffi- 

 culty, in its present concept, in obtaining enthusiastic reception by the states of 

 the Great Lakes region. Most states already possess the regulatory machinery 

 proposed, and any new layering of agencies at this level would have a difficult 



