380 



Its State grant program would require the States to set up duplicate 

 planning programs — one for the coastal zones and one for the State 

 generally; and 



It would lead to wasteful and inefficient Federal administration — 

 administration by the Secretary of Commerce for the coastal zones 

 and administration by the Secretary of the Interior for the whole 

 State — ^after comprehensive legislation is enacted. The two systems are 

 incompatible and competitive. 



For these reasons, I question the advisability of enactment of this 

 legislation today. 



Mr. MosHER. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman 

 from Massachusetts (Mr. Keith). 



Mr. Keith. I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. 



Mr. Chaii-man, 5 years ago, the bill before us today could not have 

 existed, for it is only in the fairly recent past that we have come to 

 recognize the coastal zone for what it is — a closely interrelated eco- 

 logical entity. Different agencies and different levels of Government 

 each regulated, or failed to regulate, their own little place of the 

 coastal zone and its resources, with little coordination and little under- 

 standing of the interconnections they were dealing with. 



Today, though, we know better. We know that filling in an estuarine 

 marsh in one place may affect the fisherman's catch miles away; a 

 chemical factory at one location can affect the quality of recreational 

 beaches somewhere else ; a marina built at point A could wipe out a 

 productive shellfish bed at point B. 



We know this — and we Imow that at the present time, the coordina- 

 tion and cooperation between governmental bodies at the State and 

 local level is entirely inadequate to the situation. 



This is the main purpose of this bill — to encourage, through Federal 

 aid and assistance, the kind of coordination and planning, at the State 

 level, that will be necessary if the vast resources of the coastal zone 

 are to be used most appropriately. 



Such coordination can also be of help in another way. One of the 

 biggest problems facing the nuclear power industry, for example, is 

 the bureaucratic maze they must go through to get approval for their 

 plants, which are very often located in the coastal zone. Certainly the 

 task would be much easier and faster if the State and local regulations 

 were coordinated. Both the environment and the need for power could 

 be better served than they are by today's diffusion of responsibility. 



This bill does not address itself to the overall question of land use 

 management — in fact, it specifically is restricted to the coastal zone. 

 Some have urged that this bill be held until a comprehensive land use 

 measure could be passed that would include the coastal zone as well. 



To wait, however, seems to me to be a mistake. The coastal zone 

 is in great danger of overdevelopment, and while the same kind of 

 problems face us with respect to the land, they are not so irmnediate. 

 The coastal zone, too, is a much more manageable undertaking, and 

 may indeed serve as a valuable precedent and example for later land 

 use management legislation. 



The bill before us today is the result of lengthy hearings, many 

 meetings, and inputs from a great variety of experts and concerned 

 citizens. It is a well-thought-out measure that, if enacted, will be of 



