753 



27 



grants for interstate coordination. The grants must be used for pur- 

 poses which the Secretary of Commerce finds to be "consistent with 

 the provisions of sections 305 and 306" of the Coastal Zone Manage- 

 ment Act. 



Interstate compacts for coastal management could, the Committee 

 believes, also serve as an important contact point among State and 

 Federal officials on matters of mutual (or conflicting) interest. Thus 

 the interstate compacts are "encouraged to establish a Federal-State 

 consultation procedure for the identification, examination, and coop- 

 erative resolution of mutual problems with respect to the marine and 

 coastal areas which affect, directly or indirectly, the applicable coastal 

 zone." (Section 309(c).) The matters of concern for interstate com- 

 pacts might well include activities (such as offshore oil development) 

 which actually occur outside the coastal zone itself but clearly have 

 an impact upon it. Consultation with Federal officials will occur when 

 State participants in such compacts request it. Federal officials di- 

 rected to participate include the Secretaries of Commerce and the 

 Interior, the Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality, 

 and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. 



Formal interstate compacts require the approval of individual 

 States to become fully effective. Recognizing that such approval 

 may in some cases take several years, and that critical coastal problems 

 cannot wait, S. 586 also provides funds for groups of States wishing 

 to establish informal interim i:)lanning and coordinating entities for 

 their coastal zones. These, too, may receive 90 percent Federal fund- 

 ing. This provision expires in 5 years, since that should be ample time 

 for States to enact formal compacts. 



Funds authorized for appropriation for interstate coordination in 

 S. 586 total $5 million annually for 10 fiscal years. 



4. Research and Training 



The past 2 years' experience with the coastal zone management pro- 

 gram has pointed up the need, both in the States and in NOAA's 

 Office of Coastal Zone Management, for special funding devoted to 

 augmenting the research and training capabilities related to the pro- 

 gram. Experience in the 30 States and 3 territories participating 

 indicates that it is difficult to obtain scientific and other research 

 information in the short time frame needed by coastal program 

 developers. One of the reasons for this difficulty is the limited number 

 of staff people familiar with coastal ecology as well as with general 

 planning concepts. 



To alleviate these problems, the committee has adopted a coastal 

 research and training assistance program in section 310 of S. 586. 

 This provision would provide a $5 million annual fund for the Secre- 

 tary of Commerce to use either within the Department, or coopera- 

 tively with other Federal agencies or with outside organizations. The 

 aim is to provide information which is useful to many States, as well 

 as to answer general coastal research and/or training needs. 



Additionally, S. 586 would provide $5 million in research and train- 

 ing funds in the form of matching grants to State agencies charged 

 with developing or implementing coavStal zone management programs. 

 These funds are to meet specific research or training needs of the 

 States. 



