925 



39 



through this bill, the additional sum seems modest. It reflects the 

 Committee's desire to keep Washington bureaucracy to the minimum 

 necessary to assist the states and local governments to carry out this 

 Act. 



The bill also raises the stature of the administrator of the program 

 within the structure of NOAA to become the fourth associate admin- 

 istrator of that agency. At present, the coastal zone program is run 

 by an assistant administrator under the civil service schedule. The 

 new position requires a Presidential appointment and Senate clearance, 

 thus providing the visibility and attention which is felt this activity 

 deserves within NOAA and the Executive Branch. The Committee 

 has high regard for the competence of the current operation of the 

 Office of Coastal Zone Management and would urge that this new 

 executive level position be filled with the present manager of the 

 program. 



Section-by-Section Analysis 



short iitle 



This Act may be cited as the "Coastal Zone Management Act Amend- 

 ments of 1975.'" 



Sec Hon 2: ATnendTnents to the Coastal Zone Mcmagennent Act 



This section amends the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 as 

 amended as follows: 



Amendment to ^''Congressional findings''^ 



(1) Subsection (b) of the "Congressional Findings" provision (sec- 

 tion 302) is amended to provide that the coastal zone is rich in ecologi- 

 cal as well as the other resources listed in the subsection. The addition 

 is also consistent with one of the purposes of the energy facility impact 

 grants or payments provided in section 308, specifically that such 

 grants or payments are to be used, in part, to ameliorate the unavoid- 

 able loss of ecological resources. 



Amendment to definition of '''' coastal zone''"' 



(2) The definition of "coastal zone" in section 304(a) is amended 

 to add the word "islands" as an explicit component of its enumerated 

 parts. This technical change is consistent with the original intent of 

 the Act and simply makes explicit what is now implicit in the admin- 

 istration of the program. 



Amendment to definition of '■^estv/irine sanctuary'''' 



(3) The definition of "estuarine sanctuary" (section 304(e)) is 

 amended by adding the word "islands" to those research areas which 

 are included within its boundaries. This is also a technical change 

 which is consistent with the intent of the Act, but which was not made 

 explicit in the original definition. 



New definitions added to Coastal Zone Management Act 



(4) Six new terms are added to the "definitions" section of the Act 

 (section 304), five of which are directly related to the new section 308 

 providing for a Coastal Energy Activity Impact Program. 



New subsection (j) defines "Outer Continental Shelf Energy Activ- 

 ity" and is used in three subsections of H.R. 3981. Section 308(a) (1) 

 stipulates the six criteria on which the OCS payment proportions will 



