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the issues you have raised in S. 3354, the proposed Land Use Policy Act, are 

 basic questions which sliould receive wide-spread public discussion and analysis, 

 so that the alternatives may be fully developed and effective policies be evolved. 

 As illustration of the Administration's concern to help develop such policies is 

 the Coastal Zone Management Bill (S. 3183, now in hearing before the Senate 

 Commerce Committee. It is a useful start on a massive national problem. It is 

 aimed at reform of land and water use in the costal regions of our country 

 where intense development pressures and over-lapping regulatory jurisdictions 

 are causing alarming and unnecessary damage to the natural environment. The 

 Coastal Zone Management Bill is addressed to a priority sector now under the 

 onslaught of speculative development, where population is concentrated, and 

 where the states are attempting to institute effective planning measures. In 

 other words, we have acted here because the coastal zone is in an area where 

 something must be done now, and where it is not difficult to demonstrate the 

 need or to find support at the state level. 



In contrast, evolution of a national land use policy requires no less than the 

 development of planning criteria by which urban decay can be arrested, rural 

 decline reversed, and suburban sprawl regulated across the nation. This is a 

 massive undertaking. It will require a new approach to our use and enjoyment of 

 this nation's land and natural resources. At the base of many of our environ- 

 mental problems is an attitude that we have unlimited resources and unlimited 

 rights in our time to use them as we please. Our land has taken a major portion 

 of this abuse. We have begun to realize this but the changes which are necessary 

 to insure proper use of our land, public and private, will take time and will be 

 fundamental. 



You have raised many of the most important issues in your proposed legisla- 

 tion, S. 3354 the National Land Use Policy Act. We on the Council on Environ- 

 mental Quality have been concerned about many of the same issues as we attempt 

 to define the Federal Government's role. 



We believe that the Federal Government approach to the land use question 

 must be twofold : 



First, any land use program involving the Federal Government must 

 identify and coordinate those activities of the Government which have an 

 impact on the use of land in private as well as public ownership. In some 

 cases, this impact is a side effect; sometimes it is not even recognized. 



Secondly any effort by the Federal Government to promote national land 

 iise policies must take into account the existing relationships between those 

 local, regional, state and federal agencies which are involved in land use 

 planning. We believe that in many cases these relationships are not under- 

 stood even by those who make decisions within the agencies. 

 Looking at the first aspect of the problem — the impact of Government activities 

 on the use of land — we have identified many areas of Federal activity which 

 need to be better understood and coordinated to that end. These will require 

 attention in the formulation of legislation on land use policy. 



In his State of the Union addresses the President proposed that we develop 

 a national growth policy addressed to the impact of the growth and shifting 

 location of our population. We need to relate this to our use of land and 

 natural resources and in our needs to build new cities and to rebuild old 

 ones. 



We must develop a better understanding of the effects on nearby areas 

 brought about by the establishment of major government installations. For 

 example, the development of the NASA complex at Cape Kennedy has caused 

 a massive influx of population in Brevard County, Florida, resulting in huge 

 tracts of poorly planned subdivisions, little open space preservation and 

 unsightly commercial development. 



We should understand the effects of location and construction of Fed- 

 erally assisted highways on our urban, suburban, rural and natural en- 

 vironment. At the present time there are numerous highway projects in this 

 country where the effects on people, wildlife, water resources or land are 

 alleged to be unnecessarily damaging. 



We need to examine more closely the environmental impact of airport 

 location and expansion. In addition to the difficulties caused by the highway 

 construction program, airports have the additional environmental problem 

 of noise. 



We should explore new agricultural land use policies that will insure the 

 preservation of open space and bring some semblance of order to development 

 patterns where suburbs are spreading onto agricultural lands. 



