77 



Mr. Studds. Our first, last and only witness this morning is Mr. 

 James Walsh, Deputy Administrator of NOAA, and Chairman of 

 the Interagency Committee on Ocean Pollution Research and De- 

 velopment and Monitoring. 



Good morning. 



STATEMENT OF JAMES P. (BUD) WALSH, DEPUTY ADMINISTRA- 

 TOR, NOAA, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, AND CHAIRMAN 

 OF THE INTERAGENCY COMMITTEE ON OCEAN POLLUTION 

 RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT AND MONITORING, ACCOM- 

 PANIED BY DR. DAIL W. BROWN, ACTING DIRECTOR, NA- 

 TIONAL MARINE POLLUTION PROGRAM OFFICE, NOAA; AND 

 CAPT. LAWRENCE SW ANSON, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF MARINE 

 POLLUTION ASSESSMENT, NOAA 



Mr. Walsh. Good morning, Mr. Chairman. 



Mr. Studds. I will not ask you why San Francisco is on the front 

 of your report. 



Mr. Walsh. It was a very pretty picture, and actually I did not 

 get much choice on it. 



Mr. Chairman and members of the committee: 



I welcome the opportunity to appear today in support of reauth- 

 orization of Public Law 95-273, the National Ocean Pollution Re- 

 search and Development and Monitoring Planning Act of 1978. You 

 can see why we call the act Public Law 95-273. 



With me today are two individuals who spend most of their time 

 on pollution matters in NOAA. Dail Brown, who is on my left, is 

 presently the Acting Director of our national office. His present 

 responsibility is putting together the plan and overseeing its imple- 

 mentation. 



On my right is Larry Swanson, who is currently in charge of 

 marine pollution assessment within our Office of Research and 

 Development. It is Larry's job to oversee our actual research proj- 

 ects, such things as the funding of the projects under this act as 

 well as under other pollution research programs within the Office 

 of R. & D. He has the added responsibility of coordinating through- 

 out NOAA all our marine pollution programs. We have a very 

 sizable set of programs. 



The act mandated that a comprehensive 5-year plan for Federal 

 ocean pollution research, development, and monitoring programs 

 be developed in order to provide improved planning and coordina- 

 tion of such programs within the Federal Government. A further 

 purpose is to develop and disseminate information about pollution 

 and its impact on the development of ocean and coastal resources. 



This undertaking has proved to be no small task. At present, 7 

 departments and 4 agencies are conducting or sponsoring nearly 

 1,000 discrete projects relating to ocean pollution research, develop- 

 ment, and monitoring. Expenditures for these projects are project- 

 ed to be $188 million in fiscal year 1980. 



The first 5-year plan is complete and work is already well under- 

 way for revisions in 1981. We believe that the act has made a 

 positive contribution to improve planning in this area, but much 

 more needs to be done. Consequently, the administration supports 

 reauthorization of the act for fiscal years 1981 and 1982. We have 

 sent a bill to the Congress for that purpose. 



