In a related action the Administration sent to the Congress its 

 proposals for a national Land-Use Policy Act. One of the concerns 

 of the Administration is that efforts to manage the coastal zone are 

 compatible with more general land-use management activities. 

 Favorable action by the Congress on a Land-Use Policy Act is 

 vital for concurrent implementation of both of these programs. The 

 formation of the proposed DENR will enable the establishment of 

 closely coordinated programs for both land and coastal zone man- 

 agement. 



ATMOSPHERIC ACTIVITIES 



The Committee has followed its excellent special report on the 

 efTectiveness of the Nation's hurricane warning system in connection 

 with Hurricane Agnes of last year with a summary of its views on 

 improvements that are required in the short-period disaster warning 

 systems. I agree with these views wholeheartedly. The President's 

 1973 and 1974 budgets provided substantial increases for facilities, 

 personnel, and equipment required to bring about the kinds of 

 improvements proposed by NACOA for the Nation's disaster warn- 

 ing program. Although much remains to be done to implement the 

 NACOA proposals, these increases will provide for improved geo- 

 stationary satellite systems which will give us views of small-scale 

 weather phenomena, increased computer capacity which will allow 

 us to deal in a physical/numerical sense with much smaller scale 

 phenomena than we have hitherto, and incremental improvements 

 in the communications and automated observation systems recom- 

 mended by the Committee. 



The Administration agrees fully with the Committee that local 

 communities must prepare themselves to take action when severe 

 weather or floods threaten. To insure that the most efficient use is 

 made of these improved disaster warning systems, the Administra- 

 tor, NOAA, and the Director, Defense Civil Preparedness Agency 

 (DCPA), have recently entered into a formal agreement between 

 the two agencies to work together toward more effective community 

 preparedness. 



We are pleased that the Committee regards the NOAA program 

 for automation of field operations and services (AFOS) as being 

 an important activity which can bring about the introduction of 

 modern technology into the forecast and warning process. By using 

 advanced communications and display technology for modernizing 



