402 



Mr. Lennoist. Meaning the Department, of the Interior? 



Mr. Kyl. No, sir: that is not my imrlerst^andinof at all. 



Mr. Lennoist. Well, it is my understanding, sir, because I have in 

 my possession a letter signed by the Greneral Counsel of the Depart- 

 ment of Commerce, which I received today at 12 o'clock noon, in which 

 they definitively and objectively spoke for the administration. They 

 made one suggested "period, close of quote" which I will in turn offer 

 as an amendment. 



If I may, I should like to return to what I have to say in regard to 

 the gentleman's amendment, the proposal to change from the Secre- 

 tary of Commerce to the Secretary of the Interior. 



We should keep in mind, gentlemen, that NOAA, the National 

 Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency, is in the Department of Commerce. 

 We put it there by our votes in 1970. I believe there were about 12 

 votes, out of 400, against it. 



This proposal to change from the Secretary of Commerce to tlie 

 Secretaiy of the Interior the responsibility for the coordination of 

 coastal zone management is not a new proposal.. It has been raised 

 over and over again, ever since the gentleman did what he did at the 

 request of the administration. Each time it has been raised, it has been 

 rejected. There is no more justification today than existed on the previ- 

 ous occasions. 



Human nature is the same all over the world. "Let us take every- 

 thing we put in NOAA out and hand it back to the Department of 

 the Interior." That is human nature, Evei^ybody wants to grow like 

 Topsy. 



The Secretary of the Interior was proposed as the lead agency for 

 coastal zone management by some people in the Interior Department 

 way back in 1969. 



^ The Commission report — I am talking about the Stratton Commis- 

 sion report, — after careful consideration, based upon the objective 

 viewpoints of nongovernmental personnel, recommended a coastal 

 zone management program to be administered by the independent 

 agency of NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency. 



Now, the President, with your concurrence, decided tliat it would 

 not make it a national agency but, rather, put it in the Department 

 of Conrmerce. Nevertheless, it does exist in major part now by virtue 

 of Reorganization Plan No. 4 of 1970. The next time the Department 

 of the Interior's responsibility was suggested was in connection with 

 the administration proposal in 1969 for a coastal management bill in 

 the guise of an amendment to the Water Pollution Control Act. 



Yes; the Department of the Interior suggested it tlien, and in that 

 case tlie Department of tlie Interior lead position was based on the- 

 fact that it contained the Federal Water Quality Administration and 

 therefore they ought to have this. 



Wlien the Subcommittee on Oceanography convened in 1969 they 

 brought people here from ?>0-odd States to develop these problems and 

 the then Under Secretary of the Interior stated that liis Department 

 was well qualified to administer such program by virtue of the fact 

 that the Department of the Interior contained the Federal Water 

 Quality Administration and the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries. 



The Chairman. The time of the gentleman has expired. 



