938 



52 



facilities of more than local interest, such as ener^ plans, the Com- 

 mittee has added the requirement that any interstate plan or program 

 which may be developed under the interstate and regional cooperation 

 provision be considered also. 



Provinon of mediation process after program approval 



(14) This amendment would add a new subparagraph (4) to sec- 

 tion 307(c). Section 307 is the Interagency Coordination and Coopera- 

 tion provision of the original Act, and it basically sets forth a method 

 by which Federal actions which occur within a coastal zone of a 

 coastal state must be consistent with a state's adopted coastal zone 

 management program. This consistency provision in the original Act 

 would apply to any Federally conducted or supported activity affect- 

 ing the coastal zone, any Federal development project in the coastal 

 zone, and any Federal licensing or permitting activity affecting land 

 or water uses within the coastal zone. 



Section 307(b) of the Coastal Zone Management Act provides a 

 mediation process for any serious disagreements arising between Fed- 

 eral agencies and states in the coastal zone management program 

 approval process, but the original Act is silent with respect to disagree- 

 ments arising after a state management program is approved and in 

 operation. 



The new paragraph (4) added to section 307(c) would provide for 

 an additional mediation process to deal with Federal-state disagree- 

 ments arising during the implementation of an approved state pro- 

 gram. In case there is serious disagreement between any Federal agency 

 and the state in the implementation of an approved program, the 

 Secretary of Commerce, in cooperation witli the Executive Office of 

 the President, shall seek to resolve such differences. 



Adding '"''Leases''' to Federal consistency requirement 



(15) This section amends the so-called federal consistency portion 

 of the Act to make explicit the Committee's original intent to include 

 leases as actions which come under the purview of this section. 



Specifically what the section does is to add the word "lease" to "li- 

 censes and permits" in section 307 (c^ (3). This clarifies the scope of the 

 coverage of those federal actions which must be certified as complying 

 with a state's approved coastal zone management program. The Com- 

 mittee felt, because of the intense interest in this matter on the part 

 of a number of states, it would make explicit its view that federal 

 leasing is an activity alreadv covered by section 307 of the Act. 



To argue otherwise would be to maintain that a federal permit for 

 a wastewater discharge, for example, must be certified by the applicant 

 to be in compliance with a state program, the state being given an 

 opportunity to approve or disapprove of the proposal, while a federal 

 lease for an Outer Continental Shelf tract does not have to so certify. 

 Given the obvious impacts on coastal lands and waters which will 

 result from the federal action to permit exploration and development 

 of offshore petroleum resources, it is difficult to imagine tliat the orig- 

 inal intent of the Act was not to include such a maior federal coastal 

 action within the coverage of "federal consistency." 



However, l^ecause of the absence of the specific mention of the word 

 "lease" in the language of section 307, doubts have arisen in the minds 



