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Use Policy Act of 1971". It is the President's proposal that $20 mil- 

 lion be authorized in each of the next 5 years to assist the States in 

 establishing methods for protecting lands, including the coastal zone 

 and estnarines, of critical environmental concern, methods for control- 

 ling large-scale development, and improving use of land around key 

 facilities and new communities. "This proposal", the President said, 

 "will replace and expand my proposal submitted to the last Congress 

 for coastal zone management, while still giving priority attention to 

 this area of the country which is especially sensitive to development 

 pressures". 



Specifically, H.R. 4332 would authorize a two-phase program of 

 grants to be administered by the Secretary of the Interior. In that 

 cost-sharing grants would be awarded both for program development 

 and for program management. H.R. 4332 is similar to H.R. 2492. H.R. 

 2193 and H.R. 3615. The administration proposal differs from the 

 l^ills under consideration, however, with respect to the scope of a 

 State's planning activity and, indeed the number of States eligible for 

 assistance. To assure that coastal zone and estnarine management 

 receive the priority attention of coastal States. H.R. 4332 woulcl iden- 

 tify the coastal zones and estuaries as "areas of critical environmental 

 concern" and require that a Staters land use program include a method 

 for inventorying and designating such areas. Further, tlie Secretary 

 would be authorized to make grants for program management only 

 if State laws affecting land use in the coastal zone and estuaries take 

 into account (1) the esthetic and ecological values of wetlands for 

 wildlife habitat, food production sources for aquatic life, recreation, 

 •sedimentation control, and shoreland storm protection and (2) tho 

 susceptability of wet lands to permanent destruction through drain- 

 ing, dredging, and filling, and the need to restrict such activities. Most 

 important, perhaps, funds for program development and manage- 

 ment would be allocated to the States under regulations which must 

 take into account the nature and extent of coastal zones and estuaries. 



Of the manmade threats to coastal environments described by the 

 Council on Environmental Quality in its first annual report, most 

 have their origin in heavily populated land areas at or near the 

 water's edge. But others can be traced further inland, where eventual 

 impact upon the coastal environment is not so easily recognized. Thus, 

 while pressures become most intense at the point: where land meets 

 water, many cannot be alleviated without truly comprehensive plan- 

 ning. This fact, and the related absence of any precise geographic 

 definition for the coastal zone, lies behind the integrated approach 

 embodied in H.R. 4332. It may be noted that several States, coastal 

 and inland, have already expressed a commitment to this concept. We 

 urge that the Congress and your committee, so effective in its concern 

 for sound management of the coastal zone, join in this initiative to 

 encourage planning for effective management of all the Nation's lands 

 and waters. 



The Office of Management and Budget has advised that there is no 

 objection to the presentation of this report from the standpoint of 

 the administration's program. 

 Sincerely yours, 



Harrison Loesch, 

 Assistant Secretary of the Interior. 



