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Having done this, Mr. President, the Committee on Commerce, on 

 April 11, unanimously ordered that an original bill be reported to 

 the floor. This bill is S. 3507, which is before the Senate today. 



So what is the program we propose? Essentially, it is this: 

 A means to avoid crisis in the coastal areas of our Nation. We know 

 the States have the will to avoid this crisis of growth and the sub- 

 sequent despoliation of our valuable coastal waters. But at present, 

 neither the States nor the local government have the financial 

 means to tackle this difficult job. S. 3507 solves this problem by pro- 

 viding Federal grants-in-aid to create and operate management 

 programs within the coastal zone. 



Tlie bill I propose today is aimed at saving the waters of our 

 coasts and the land whose use has a direct, significant, and adverse 

 impact upon that water. We all know that the coastal water and 

 our delicate estuaries are the breeding grounds of life in the sea. 

 Yet we use the land of the coastal zone with little or no concern 

 for how his use will affect the water. For the most part, everyone 

 is complaining about the situation, but few are doing any thing 

 about it, S. 3507 does something ahout it. In other words, we are 

 talking about providing orderly, sound growth in a narrow strip of 

 land and water of our coastal States, Great Lakes States, and our 

 territories. The management program authority may extend inland 

 only so far as to allow control over the use of that land which, 

 as I have said, directly affects the water. So it can be seen that 

 we do not envision huge blocks of inland territory being cai'ved 

 into management program areas. The coastal zone bill would extend 

 coverage basically to beaches, salt marshes, sounds, harbors, bays, 

 and lagoons, and the adjacent lands — but not territory so large as 

 to encroach upon land use management. The waters of this zone, 

 again, are our primary target of concern. In disputed cases, these 

 waters are those which contain a measurable tidal influence. 



In the United States today, we are facing a population ex- 

 plosion — and it is being felt with the most impact in the coastal 

 States and in coastal municipalities. The rate of increase for coastal 

 areas is more rapid than for inland areas, and this press of popula- 

 tion has led to extensive degradation of our estuaries and marsh- 

 lands. From 1922 through 1954, more than 25 percent of the salt 

 marshes of this country were destroyed by fill, dikes, drainage, or 

 by construction of walls. From 1954 to 1964, the destruction has 

 continued at an even more rapid pace. Approximately 10 percent 

 has been lost to development. 



We know that the land area available for expanding populations 

 will not change. There are only 88,600 miles of shoreline on our 

 Atlantic, Pacific, and Artie coastlines, and another 11,000 miles 

 along the Great Lakes. Already, 53 percent of our population live 

 within 50 miles of the coast. The overwhelming testimony was that 

 by the year 2000, it may well be 80 percent, or 225 million citizens. 



I re^"erred earlier to tlie Stratton Commission. That group's report, 

 "Our Nation and the Sea,'' calls the coast the most valuable geographic 

 feature of the United States — the most biologically productive region 

 of all. America looks to the coastlines not only for recreation, but for 

 resources as well. The report makes an urgent plea for adequate man- 

 agement of the coastal zone now, before it is too late. 



