dated with the development of a coastal zone management program. 2 

 S. 586 includes a provision to establish such a program, and it will be 

 closely considered in Commerce Committee hearings on that bill. 



The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is re- 

 sponsible for administering the Coastal Zone Management Act, also 

 lacks the funding, but not the authority, to do impact studies of en- 

 ergy-related activities in the coastal zone. NOPS will give attention 

 to enhancing the effectiveness of NOAA in doing research on the im- 

 pacts of OCS development, deepwater ports, and other energy activity 

 on the marine and coastal environment. It is expected that such in- 

 formation can be funneled into environmental impact statements and 

 State coastal zone management programs so as to improve their ac- 

 ceptability to the general public and their applicability to decision- 

 making. 

 D. National interest and Federal consistency 



Two questions concerning the Coastal Zone Management Act that 

 are expected to become important as coastal States move to complete 

 their coastal zone programs and submit them for Commerce approval 

 concern (1) the nature of the "national interest" in coastal zone man- 

 agement and (2) the meaning of the so-called "federal-consistency" 

 provision contained in section 307 of the Act. 



The Coastal Zone Management Act clearly states that there are cer- 

 tain aspects of coastal zone management that reflect a national interest. 

 The Office of Coastal Zone Management has attempted to define na- 

 tional interest through regulations for the purpose of reviewing the 

 adequacy of state programs. It is incumbent upon NOPS and the Sen- 

 ate Committee on Commerce to practice close oversight of the review 

 of state programs to assure that an arbitrary definition of the national 

 interest does not prevent any State's coastal zone management program 

 from being approved. On the other hand, NOPS oversight will assure 

 that national interest standards are not so lax as to be meaningless. 



With regard to the "federal consistency" provision, many coastal 

 states faced with offshore oil and gas development off their shores view 

 this as the major Federal "carrot" for developing a coastal zone pro- 

 gram. This provision provides that once a state's coastal zone program 

 has been completed and approved, all Federal licenses and permits 

 affecting that program shall be consistent with the state's approved 

 coastal zone program. It is generally agreed that the term "licenses 

 and permits" applies to energy development on the Outer Contin- 

 ental Shelf beyond the 3-mile limit, however it is expected that 

 this will eventually be the subject of court proceedings to deter- 

 mine clarifications. In view of this emerging conflict, NOPS plans to 

 examine the applicability of the federal consistency provision to OCS 

 development to determine if more specific language is required in the 

 Act. One proposal, which has been included in S. 586, the Coastal Zone 

 Environment Act of 1975, would make the Act specific with regard to 

 leases and the development, production, and energy facilities siting 

 activities which directly or indirectly affect the coastal zone. This pro- 



2 National Advisory Committee on Oceans and Atmosphere. A Report to the President 

 and the Congress : Third Annual Report, Washington, June 28, 1974 : 34. 



47-342—75- 



