746 



20 



tee has included in S. 586 the addition of the word "lease" wherever 

 "licenses or permits" are mentioned. In practical terms, this means 

 that the Secretary of the Interior would need to seek the certification 

 of consistency from adjacent State governors before entering into a 

 binding lease agreement ^Yith private oil companies. Most States will 

 probably not be able to exercise this right before 1977, when the bulk 

 of State programs are expected to reach the point of applying for the 

 Secretary of Commerce's approval. The leverage they will gain over 

 Federal activities affecting their coastal zones at that point is a power- 

 ful incentive for completion of the State program development 

 process. 



The National Governors' Conference endorsed the applicability of 

 the Federal consistency clause to OCS oil and gas development in a 

 resolution which passed on February 20, 1975. That resolution said, in 

 part: 



Development, production, transportation and onshore 

 facility plans should be submitted for approval to tiie De- 

 partment of the Interior, but only after the potentially 

 affected coastal States have reviewed such plans in order to 

 insure consistency with State coastal zone management plans 

 and other applicable State statutes and regulations. Since the 

 plans should be reviewed for consistency with State coastal 

 zone management programs, the Governors believe that ade- 

 quate time, as determined b}- Congress, should be afforded 

 States to develop such coastal zone programs before any OCS 

 production commences. 



In that same resolution, the governors addressed the need for Fed- 

 eral funding for onshore planning and impact mitigation and of the 

 net adverse financial impact that many States and localities may 

 anticipate as a result of OCS development. The resolution supports 

 development of offshore energy resources provided such development 

 is conducted in the context of sound environmental and coastal zone 

 management policies and practices. 



2. Coastal Energy FacUity Impact Program 



The Coastal Zone Management Act established the goal of, and the 

 initial framework for, wise management of the coastal zone. The Act 

 states: 



. . . there is a national interest ... in the increasing and 

 competing demands upon the lands and waters of our coastal 

 zone occasioned by population growth and economic develop- 

 ment, including requii-ements for industry, commerce, resi- 

 dential development, recreation, extraction of mineral re- 

 sources and fossil fuels, transportation and navigation, 

 waste disposal . . . [resulting in] loss of living marine re- 

 sources, wildlife, nutrient-rich areas, permanent and adverse 

 changes to ecological systems, [and] decreasing open space for 

 public use. . . . 

 From the Committee's view, it is most desirable to assist the States 

 in focusing on problems related to: (1) energy facility planning, in- 

 cluding the specific coastal impacts associated with both fossil fuel 

 production and electric power generation, (2) energy and other mate- 

 rials demands required to accommodate projected growth, (3) hous- 



