36 NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC PROGRAM LEGISLATION 



the Vice President and composed of the heads of certain executive 

 departments and agencies. The Council would employ a staff headed 

 by an Executive Director. The chief responsibility of the Council 

 would be to coordinate the work in oceanography being carried out by 

 the various departments and agencies of the Federal Government. 



The bill is clearly intended to advance the national program in 

 oceanography. The Department is in full sympathy with that objec- 

 tive; however, it questions whether the proposed bill offers the most 

 effective method of achieving the desired purpose. At the present 

 time, coordination is achieved by the Interagency Committee on Ocean- 

 ography formed by the Federal Council for Science and Technology. 

 The Department believes this basic approach should be continued and 

 is opposed to the creation of another office or agency with independent 

 authority and responsibility in the field. The latter would result in 

 duplication of effort and organization in oceanography as well as 

 derogate from the authority and responsibility of existing agencies in 

 this field. 



The Department has stated its support of H.R. 2218 as a construc- 

 tive measure for assuring coordination of the efforts of the various 

 Government agencies in the area of oceanography. For the reasons 

 given above, the Department believes that the establishment of a new 

 administrative organization, as outlined in the proposed bill, will not 

 achieve that result in as desirable a manner. 



Accordingly, the Treasury Department is opposed to the enactment 

 ofH.R.5654:. 



The Department has been advised by the Bureau of the Budget that 

 there is no objection from the standpoint of the administration's pro- 

 gram to the submission of this report to your committee. 



Sincerely yours, ^ 



Fred B. Smith, 

 Acting General Counsel. 



[H.R. 5884, H.R. 6009, 89th Cong., 1st sess.] 



BILLS To provide a program of marine exploration and development of the resources of 



the Continental Shelf 



Be it enacted ty the Senate and House of Representatwes of the United States 

 of America in Congress assembled, 



SHORT TITLE 



Section 1. This Act may be cited as the "Marine Exploration and Develop- 

 ment Act". 



DECLAKATION OF POLICY 



Sec. 2. The Ck>ngress finds and declares that — 



The United States acquired under international law on June 10, 1964, sov- 

 ereign rights to the exploration and development of resources of the Continental 

 Shelf under the Convention on the Continental Shelf adopted at the United 

 Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea. Pursuant to the internationally 

 recognized and exclusive rights so secured, the United States assumes the re- 

 sponsibility of executing an accelerated program of exploration and development 

 of the physical, chemical, geological, and biological resources of the Continental 

 Shelf. 



It is the policy of the United States to encourage private investment in the 

 economic utilization of the marine resources of the Continental Shelf; to deter- 

 mine the benefits from use of these marine resources for increased investment 

 and economic growth ; to make available discoveries and information which may 



