278 



I thank the Senator from Rhode Island for his courtesy. 



The Presiding Officer. Does the Senator from Rhode Island desire 

 the modification of the amendment stated ? 



Mr. Pell. Yes. I ask that my amendment be modified in line with 

 the suggestion of the Senator from Alaska. 



The amendment, as further modified, reads as follows : 



On page 26, after line 19, insert the following : 



Sec. 316. (c) The Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

 Administration of the Department of Commerce, after consultation with the 

 Secretary of the Interior and the Administrator of the Environmental Protec- 

 tion Agency, shall enter into appropriate arrangements with the National Acad- 

 emy of Sciences to undertake a full investigation of the environmental hazards 

 attendant on offshore oil drilling on the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf. Such 

 study should take into consideration the recreational, marine resources, ecologi- 

 cal, esthetic, and research values which might be impaired by the proposed drill- 

 ing and shall include recommendations to eliminate such environmental hazards, 

 if any. A report shall be made to the Congress, to the Administrator, and to the 

 Secretary by July 1, 1973. 



There are authorized to be appropriated for the fiscal year in which this Act 

 is enacted and for the next fiscal year thereafter such sums as may be necessary 

 to carry out this section, but the sums appropriated may not exceed $500,000. 



Mr. HoLLiNGS. Mr. President, I would support the amendment as 

 modified. 



Wliile the matter of the study by the National Academy of Sciences 

 is a new approach, the matter of study generally, relative to oil ex- 

 ploration on the Continental Shelf, is not new. This subject came up 

 with respect to sanctuaries and oil pollution in the National Water 

 Quality Control Act which is in conference. We are talking about 

 a half-million-dollar study. The Committee on Interior and Insular 

 Affairs expended $400,000 to $500,000 in doing that. It made its own 

 study and held its own hearings at that particular time. The Secre- 

 tary of the Interior reported in the press that he had no intention to 

 grant any lease rights within the next 2-year period pending his study 

 and intimating at that time a private study. Whatever the results 

 would be, they would be submitted to Congress, particularly to the 

 Senate by the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs. If the study 

 by the National Academy of Sciences arranged by the National 

 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the Department of Com- 

 merce in conjunction with the Interior Department and the Environ- 

 mental Protection Agency would be of help, I would support it. It 

 would certainly give more support and more credibility to the ulti- 

 mate proposals on this all-important score and, therefore, I would go 

 along with the amendment, with those comments. 



Mr. Moss. Mr. President, will the Senator from South Carolina 

 yield? 



Mr. HoLLiNGS. I yield. 



Mr, Moss. Mr. President, I would be pleased to support the amend- 

 ment. When the Senator from Rhode Island (Mr. Pell) was discuss- 

 ing the original wording it was necessary, I thought, to point out that 

 the line included therein, which called upon the study to suggest alter- 

 natives to such drilling in meeting the necessary energy needs, was 

 duplicative of work already being done in the National Fuels and 

 Energy Study being conducted by the Committee on Interior and 

 Insular Affairs pursuant to Senate Resolution 45. Moreover, since the 

 State coastal zone management programs relate only to the territorial 



