President from the broad marine community. This group would 

 also attempt to bring elements of the regions, universities, and 

 private industry into a more cohesive and effective group. 



Functions 



Some of the functions envisioned for this new organization 

 are: 



— to explore the marine frontier and its interrelationships 



with the atmosphere 

 — to consolidate the present government efforts for better 



efficiency 

 — to establish national projects focused on specific areas of 



need 



— to expand capabilities in marine research and technology 



— to stimulate development of basic marine technology and 

 engineering 



— to create incentives for private investment in marine 

 resource development and exploitation 



— to establish a national project of test facilities for under- 

 sea systems 



— to support "effective" state management of coastal zone 

 activities 



— to conduct preinvestment surveys to determine offshore 

 mineral potentials 



— to minimize conflicts over uses of the marine environ- 

 ment 



Finances 



The $8 billion requested for the next decade of ocean re- 

 search represents entirely new programs. It is in addition to 

 the $500 million plus spent annually on civilian marine and 

 atmospheric programs and $300 million to support military work 

 in ocean research. NOAA would begin with a budget of about 

 $800 million dollars consisting of old and new civilian programs 

 and would increase to $2 billion by 1980, approximately $1 bil- 

 lion over and above current program levels. Although rapid 

 early growth is expected with a levelling off as the current 

 backlog of unmet needs are met, the doubling of present efforts 

 represents a straight line growth rate of 7 to 10% per year. This 

 estimate includes expansion of old programs at an arbitrary 7% 

 growth rate. It was suggested that some current expenditures 

 might be more profitably redirected to support new programs. 



The Commission stressed that the intangible returns of a 

 livable environment and of security as well as the important 

 and relatively quick economic and technical returns should be 

 taken into account when considering the costs of these pro- 

 grams. 



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