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proposals to deal with the problems of controlling pollution, to deal 

 with emerging new problems such as toxic substances and ocean dump- 

 ing, and to promote better land use. 



Among several major proposals in the latter category, the President 

 called for a national land use policy. This legislation, now pending as 

 H.K. 4332 before the House Interior and Insular Affairs Committee, 

 recognizes the need for reform of State land use law. It urges States 

 to assiune greater regTilatorj^ authority, in conjimction with local gov- 

 ernments, over significant development and conservation issues of 

 more than local impact. 



These were the essential objectives of the administration's initial 

 coastal zone bill, although the geographic area of concern in that legis- 

 lation was more limited and the issues for State attention less explicit 

 than those contemplated in the national land use policy proposal. 



You may find it helpful to have a brief history of the administra- 

 tion's progress toward a national policy for land use. The administra- 

 tion's coastal zone proposal grew out of a number of studies, most 

 important of which were the Stratton Commission report and the two 

 estuarine reports by the Department of the Interior which culminated 

 in the interagency task force which I have mentioned. 



The function of the task force was to develop the administration's 

 legislative proposal for coastal zone management. The central issue 

 then, as it is now, was to build upon the inherent State regulatory au- 

 thoi'ity in order to better guide development and conservation decisions 

 in the coastal zone. There was some concern even then by the admin- 

 istration that by urging the coastal States to take back from local gov- 

 ernments some of the regulatory powers historically delegated to them 

 over a limited area, the coastal States might complicate the reform of 

 their zoning laws by creating new agencies dealing with only a por- 

 tion of the problem. But, at that time, over a year and a half ago, 

 environmental issues were only beginning to awaken broad public 

 interest and support and it was difficult to predict then vrhat we know 

 now — that the concern for the environment is an overriding domestic 

 issue of sufficient weight that State and local governments are now 

 willing to move much faster to broadly reform their institutional and 

 regulatory processes over land use. 



Likewise, over this period of time the administration, concerned 

 congressional committees, and many State governments have had a 

 better opportunity to gain a deeper undei^standing of the problem, thus 

 providing support for a broader solution such as represented in the 

 administration's land use bill. 



In the ensuing 6 months the Council on Environmental Quality was 

 established and submitted to the Congress last August its First An- 

 nual Report on the Nation's Environment. In that report the Council 

 devoted a substantial chapter to the problems of land use in this coun- 

 try. The annual report recoimted the first initiatives on coastal zone 

 legislation, but went beyond them to indicate the need for land law 

 i-eform throughout the 50 States. 



In his message accompanying the annual report to the Congress. 

 President Nixon emphasized the importance of land use reform and 

 indicated his desire to develop a national land-use policy. The Presi- 

 dent said : 



"We have treated our land as if it were a limitless resource. Traditionally, 

 Americans have felt that what they do with their own land is their own l)usiness. 



