42 NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC PROGRAM LEGISLATION 



The Department favors an increase in exploration and development 

 of the Continental Shelf; but opposes enactment of H.R. 5884 be- 

 cause, among other reasons, the establishment of a commission to 

 manage the Federal Continental Shelf program and to fund private 

 Continental Shelf activities is unnecessary and undesirable. The 

 Federal program, including any funding of private Continental 

 Shelf activities, should properly be managed by the agencies having 

 missions concerning the shelf under supervision of the President. 



Under the Convention on the Continental Shelf, which entered 

 into force for the United States on June 10, 1964, the United States 

 and other signatory states have jurisdiction over their continental 

 shelves to a depth of 200 meters or, beyond that limit, to such depths 

 as admit of exploitation of the natural resources of the seabed and 

 subsoil. In view of the importance of these resources, it has become 

 imperative that the United States intensify its efforts to explore, 

 survey, and map its Continental Shelf to locate potential exploitable 

 resources, and to encourage industry to develop the technology to 

 recover these resources so that the country as a whole will be able to 

 take full advantage of them. Present activities of the Department 

 are directed toward accomplishment of these objectives. 



The Secretary of Commerce presently has the authority, which he 

 has delegated to the Environmental Science Services Administration 

 (ESSA), to survey and map the Continental Shelf. ESSA has the 

 competency through its Coast and Geodetic Survey for these activ- 

 ities. From its surveying activities, ESSA obtains knowledge about 

 the Continental Shelf including the locations of its mineral resources. 

 Furthermore, ESSA cooperates with the Department of the Interior 

 and other agencies while surveying the Continental Shelf so that 

 mineral, biological, and other resources can be located in the same 

 operation. Accordingly, we do not think that creation of a new 

 agency, such as the Marine Exploration and Development Commis- 

 sion, will increase the efficiency of Federal exploration of the Con- 

 tinental Shelf. Rather, creation of such a commission is likely to 

 result in duplication of activities and facilities and waste of experienced 

 manpower. 



Admittedly, section 4(d) of H.R. 5884 requires the Commission to 

 "utilize the capacity of existing governmental agencies to the maxi- 

 mum extent consistent with the purposes of this Act." However, the 

 Commission can avoid the limiting sentence of section 4(d) by deter- 

 mining that its staff, or a private organization under a loan, grant or 

 cost-sharing arrangement, is better able to carry out the "purposes of 

 this Act" than the staff of another Federal agency. Such determi- 

 nations would result in considerable duplication of the activities and 

 facilities present in Federal agencies. In this connection, it appears 

 that (except for administration of the proposed fund) H.R. 5884 

 creates no new authority in the executive branch of the Government, 

 or sets no priorities, but merely duplicates existing authority. 



We have been advised by the Bureau of the Budget that there 

 would be no objection to the submission of our report from the stand- 

 point of the administration's program. 

 Sincerely yours, 



Burt W. Roper 

 (For Robert E. Giles). 



