567 



the necessary regional and natural differentiation. An extension of the 

 expired section 312 grant authorization for an additional three years 

 (until February) at the present $6 million level, as provided in S. 3922, 

 should be sufficient to accomplish this goal. 



This provision was supported in NACOA's Third Annual Keport 

 which recommended that "the Estuarine Sanctuaries program be ex- 

 tended in time, and funding raised to a level consistent with Congres- 

 sional intent to provide an estuarine sanctuary in each of the identi- 

 fied zoogeographic regions." 



Need for Extending Sections 305 mid 306 Authority 



While the Committee finds that NOAA's Office of Coastal Zone 

 Management has done an excellent job in reviewing and approving 

 section 305 grant applications in the short time funding has been avail- 

 able, the unforeseen delay in funding the Coastal Zone Management 

 Act has caused significant delays in beginning the development of 

 coastal zone management programs in many coastal States. This means 

 that where a State had initially a maximum of five years to com- 

 plete its program from the actual date of enactment, in reality that 

 time has been reduced to less than four years. In the same vein, the 

 State's ability to take full advantage of section 306 administrative 

 grants upon completion and approval of its program is diminished 

 considerably. 



This loss of more than a year in potential grant assistance is further 

 complicated by increased energy development pressures on the coastal 

 zone which have thrust additional planning requirements on some 

 coastal States, pressures which wei-e also unforeseen at the time the 

 Coastal Zone Management Act was passed in October, 1972. 



The extension of the section 305 and section 306 grant authority 

 for an additional two years from the present fiscal year 1977 dead- 

 line, to fiscal year 1979, would provide adequate flexibility to the coast- 

 al States necessary to compensate for the loss of planning time and 

 funding resulting from delay in implementation of the Act and will 

 provide assistance for additional long-range planning and manage- 

 ment resulting from expected impacts of energy developments in the 

 coastal zone. 



Changes in Existing Law 



In compliance with subsection (4) of rule XXIX of the standing 

 rules of the Senate, changes in existing law made by the bill as re- 

 ported are shown as follows (existing law proposed to be omitted is 

 enclosed in black brackets, new matter is printed in italic, existing law 

 'l^n which no change is proposed is shown in roman) : 



THE MARINE RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT ACT OF 

 1966, AS AMENDED BY THE ACT OF OCTOBER 27, 1972 



(86 Stat. 1280, 33 U.S.C. 1101-1124) 



Title III — ^Management or the Coastal Zone 



65-319 O - 76 - 37 



