1244 
Sun Or Co., 
Philadelphia, Pa., August 26, 1969. 
Hon. ALTON LENNON, 
House of Representatives, Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, 
Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 
My Dear Mr. Lennon. I appreciate your sending me a copy of H.R. 13247 
along with your recent cover letter. 
I found that this Bill contained the important things which I recommended 
in my testimony before your Subcommittee on Oceanography on May 8, 1969. 
Although I did not study the Bill in great detail, it impressed me as being a 
very good one. 
The only suggestion I found which gets down to what might be classified as 
nit-picking is in Line 12 on Page 2. I would recommend the insertion of “industry”’ 
between the word, ‘‘of’ and “commerce.” Then Line 12 would read, “. .. the 
enchancement of industry, commerce, transportation, and national... .” 
Thanks again for your kindness in letting me see the early version of this 
Bill. 
Sincerely yours, 
CHALMER G. KIRKBRIDE. 
Sun OIL Co.. 
Philadelphia, Pa., September 8, 1969. 
Hon. ALTON LENNON, 
House of Representatives, Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, 
Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C 
My Dear Mr. LENNON. Since my letter of August 26, I have had an opportunity 
to review more thoroughly Bill H.R. 13247. There are two points in this connec- 
tion which I would like to suggest. 
1. Bill H.R. 13247 does not provide NACOA with its own staff. The ‘Bill pro- 
vides that NACOA shall get its staff from NOAA. 
1 think this is a mistake because under these circumstances NACOA will not be 
operated as an independent advisory committee. 
2. Although Bill H.R. 13247 touches upon what the Stratton Report called the 
interagency mechanism, it is not at all clear. 
In my testimony before your Subcommittee on Oceanography on May 8, 1969, 
I emphasized that, in my opinion, the recommendation of this interagency mecha- 
nism was the third most important thing recommended by the Stratton Report. 
i therefore think that the Bill could be strengthened if more emphasis were given 
to clarifying this situation. 
Otherwise, I think this is a very fine Bill and I hope that you can put it 
through at an early date. 
Sincerely yours, 
CHALMER G. KIRKBRIDE. 
COMMENTS—H.R. 13247 
I have reviewed the Bill in detail and feel that it proposes to solve the most 
immediate problems which beset our national posture. 
The most pressing problem at present is the multiagency responsibility in the 
ocean and coastal zone. This creates multiple priorities, costly overlaps, duplica- 
tion, and, most important, a fragmented and confusing representation of funding 
needs and priorities to Congress. 
The second most urgent problem is the coordinated definition of the nature and 
scope of the elements, which contribute to effective use of ocean, coastal, and lake 
regions. 
With the element definitions completed, identification can be made of the real 
problems, which contribute to the mismanagement of our marine resources. This 
would allow a set of priorities to be established, solutions proposed, costed, and 
finally defended to the Congress in order to fund and solve those problems. 
The inclusion of the Atmospheric responsibilities is very logical, since the 
origin of the most significant weather phenomenon, its causes and control, is 
directly related to the ocean and the atmosphere above the ocean (over three- 
fourths of the global surface). The coordination and the resources should reside 
in a single agency to permit the Weather Bureau to most effectively achieve its 
responsibilities of measurement, prediction, and ultimately control of the forces 
of weather. 
