preemptive changes demand that a wider context and broader set 

 of considerations be appHed to regulatory decisions than do activities 

 whose impact can be controlled or rectified. 



• It should be recognized that the cumulative eflfects of multiple similar 

 activities are far different from those of a single case. The effect of 

 one offshore oil well or of one retirement village is not the same 

 as that of 25,000. 



• The scientific knowledge needed as a basis for sound management de- 

 cisions is spotty and generally inadequate. Institutions for bridging 

 the gap between existing knowledge and contemplated action are rela- 

 tively few and weak. 



COASTAL ZONE NEEDS FROM SEVERAL VANTAGE POINTS 



Since local, regional. State, and Federal interests and jurisdictions may 

 all impinge at once on various coastal zone issues, and the management 

 problem has a large jurisdictional element, NACOA found it instructive 

 to hear representative views from each level. We will typify them in what 

 follows by quotation and by paraphrase. While they differ in a number of 

 respects, there are two related jurisdictional principles which all these 

 views tend to support : 



• Regulatory authority must be associated with existing political enti- 

 ties or combinations of such entities even when the phsysiography or 

 other features of the coastal zone region to be managed are not com- 

 pletely coincident. 



• The State and its constitutional powers make it the key political 

 entity in coastal zone management in that localities and intrastate and 

 interstate regional authorities derive their powers from the State or 

 States involved. 



Local Government 



We note that local government, be it in the city in highly populated areas, 

 or the county in areas of low population density, is closest to the people, 

 and its elected officials must raise much of the money to carry* out de- 

 cisions made regarding their communities. The system is likely to work 

 best if they have some latitude in land-use decisions, subject to conformity 

 with reasonable environmental standards and carefully conceived regional 

 or state guidelines. The greatest current handicap is the unavailability of 

 the right kinds of expertise. To use the words of a discussant, 

 "We are in an era when polititans, managers, and scientists of many disciplines 

 must get together in a systematic approach using all our resources . . . There 

 is a need for adoption of standards, criteria and priorities at the Federal and 

 State level within which local agencies can operate . . . There is a need for the 

 Federal Government to identify nationally significant areas and to identify uses 

 in those areas, to include Federal procurement of land if necessary. The States 

 should follow suit within their jurisdictions. 



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