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The next Five- Year Plan is due February 15, 1981. We are proposing a legislative 

 change to extend the deadline for submission of the Plan from February 15 to April 

 30. Such an extension is necessary to assure adequate review of the Plan by the 

 Executive Branch on a schedule which promotes better coordination of the plan 

 with the budget processes. 



The Interagency Committee is committed to seeing that the next Five- Year Plan 

 builds upon this first plan to improve its quality and usefulness. In this regard, 

 agencies are developing five-year planning prospectuses for their major program 

 areas to allow the next plan to better project future directions and levels of empha- 

 sis. Second, a series of regional workshops have been scheduled for June 1980 to 

 develop specific statements of regional needs and priorities for consideration by the 

 Interagency Committee. We are using Sea Grant for this purpose. Third, an exten- 

 sive program review will be undertaken this year to determine how well Federal 

 activities in petroleum-related research, development, and monitoring meet agency 

 requirements and national needs. I know this is of special interest to you, Mr. 

 Chairman. And finally, efforts will be undertaken to improve the budget coordina- 

 tion process. 



Section 5 — Comprehensive NOAA program 



We have also taken a number of steps to establish a comprehensive and effective 

 ocean pollution research, development and monitoring program within NOAA, as 

 required by section 5 of the Act. There is an appendix that shows the pollution 

 program breakdown and which elements of NOAA conduct those activities. NOAA's 

 diverse marine pollution-related activities, ranging from investigations of the levels 

 of trace metals and synthetic organics in commercially valuable oil fisheries to 

 assessment of the potential impacts of offshore oil development, have been described 

 in detail and analyzed in the Report and Analysis of NOAA's Ocean Pollution 

 Research, Development and Monitoring Activities-fiscal year 1978. That analysis 

 shows NOAA's base funding for marine pollution research, development, and moni- 

 toring activities or approximately $26 million for fiscal year 1980, with major 

 activities underway in the Office of Fisheries, Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric 

 Services, and Office of Research and Development. To ensure that those efforts are 

 well coordinated and effective NOAA has proposed establishing an Office of Marine 

 Pollution Assessment within the Office of Research and Development. That Office 

 would have authority to coordinate planning and budgeting of all NOAA's marine 

 pollution activities. We are now developing a 5-year plan for NOAA's programs 

 which will help assure that they are responsive to the priorities and recommenda- 

 tions of the Federal Plan. 



Section 6 — Financial assistance 



The Act provides authority to fund work in high priority areas which are identi- 

 fied in the Federal Plan as under-emphasized. Funding can be provided to academic 

 institutions, private firms and other Federal agencies. $1.5 million in fiscal year 

 1980 funds will be devoted to the program, and we will be soliciting research, 

 development, and monitoring proposals shortly. 



Section 8 — Information Dissemination 



Section 8 of the Act requires the Administrator of NOAA to ensure that the 

 results of ocean pollution research, development, and monitoring are made available 

 in timely and useful fashion, a critical problem in our opinion. Responsibility for 

 that effort has been assigned to NOAA's Environmental Data and Information 

 service in the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric services. Two major initiatives are 

 planned. The first will be development of a central coordination and referral capa- 

 bility to facilitate making data and information more readily accessible to potential 

 users. The second will be establishment of a capability to provide data and informa- 

 tion from diverse sources in a form more suitable for analysis and assessment. This 

 is particularly useful for the Federal government. That assessment capability will 

 be directed at reducing large volumes of scientific data into forms which are more 

 useful in making decisions on utilization, conservation, and development of ocean 

 and coastal resources. 



The Administration seeks reauthorization of Public Law 95-273 for $3.0 million in 

 fiscal year 1981 and such sums as may be appropriate in fiscal year 1982. As I 

 mentioned earlier, a legislative change is also requested to move the due date for 

 the Five- Year Plan from February 15, to April 30. 



That concludes my prepared testimony. I will be happy to answer questions the 

 Subcommittee may have. 



