management of ocean affairs. NACOA’s basic recommendation 
that the major functions having to do with marine and atmos- 
pheric resources, regulation and related environmental research 
and services be amalgamated into a newly structured adminis- 
tration within a single department or agency has been at the 
base of much of President Nixon’s proposal to establish a new 
Department of Energy and Natural Resources. 
As I indicated in my comments on the proposals of NACOA 
last year, it is our strong belief that the fastest way in which to 
bring about the amalgamation of most of the functions specified 
by the committee is through the rapid establishment of the 
Department of Energy and Natural Resources, a proposal for 
which is now before the Congress. I was pleased to see in last 
year’s report the endorsement by the committee of the Depart- 
ment of Energy and Natural Resources which was pending at 
that time before the Congress. Since then, because of the energy 
crisis faced by this Nation during the past year, the Administra- 
tion has decided to proceed as a matter of greatest urgency with 
the establishment of the Federal Energy Administration and 
the independent Energy Research and Development Adminis- 
tration. The progress of the Energy Research and Development 
Administration through the Congress is gratifying, and it is 
our hope that by the time this report is issued, that agency will 
have been approved by the Congress. We also hope that before 
too many additional months have passed, we will see action by 
the Congress to form the new Department of Energy and Natural 
Resources so that many of the purposes advocated by the com- 
mittee can be realized. 
The Administration does not propose to include the U'S. 
Coast Guard in the new Department:of Energy and Natural 
Resources. Unlike the other agencies proposed for inclusion, the 
Coast Guard is not primarily concerned with marine resource 
exploitation or conservation or with environmental sciences. Its 
law enforcement, search, rescue and safety functions are intended 
to serve a broad range of programs and clients, and it should not 
become devoted to the more narrow interests of a natural re- 
source agency. 
I recognize that the detailed structuring of the various func- 
tions of the new agency represents the product of much thought 
by the committee members. The assessment of the Administra- 
tion, however, is that most of the functions singled out by the 
