961 



75 



Executive Office of the President, 

 Council on Environmental Quality, 



Washington, D.C., May i, 197S. 

 Hon. Leonor K. Sullivan, 

 House of Representatives, 

 Washington, D.C. 



Dear Ms. Sullivan : This is in response to inquiries from the Com- 

 mittee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries concerning the views of the 

 Council on Environmental Quality with respect to several bills cur- 

 rently under consideration to assist coastal zone areas in handling the 

 impacts of energy development. These include H.R. 3981, H.R. 1776, 

 H.R. 3807, H.R. 3637, and H.R. 6090. As you are aware, the Adminis- 

 tration is currently reviewing the laws applicable to this very complex 

 subject area, and will be developing its position on new legislation in 

 the near future. We therefore have no comment on these bills at this 

 time. 



Sincerely, 



Russell W. Peterson, 



Chairman. 



Comptroller General of the United States, 



Washington, D.C, May 16, 1976. 

 Hon. Leonor K. Sullivan, 



Chairman, Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, House of 

 Representatives, Washington, D.C. 



Dear Madam Chairman : Reference is made to your request dated 

 March 6, 1975, for our comments on H.R. 3981, 94th Congress, a bill 

 which, if enacted, would be cited as the "Coastal Zone Environment 

 Act of 1975" and which would amend the Coastal Zone Management 

 Act of 1972, to authorize and assist the coastal States to study, plan for, 

 manage, and control the impact of energy resource development and 

 production which affects the coastal zone, and for other purposes. 



Due to the general nature of the grant programs authorized under 

 the proposed new sections 308 and 309, the Committee may want to 

 consider establishing more specific criteria for grant eligibility and use 

 of the grants. 



The bill on page 5, lines 5 through 9, (section 308d) deals with the 

 allocation of grants to coastal States in proportion to anticipated or 

 actual impacts. This language is very broad and does not make clear 

 how the amounts of grants to the States would be determined. 



The provision on page 6, lines 13 through 18, (section 309b) author- 

 izing annual interstate coordination grants to the coastal States is not 

 clear as to how the cost of coordination, study, planning, or implemen- 

 tation is to be determined. 



Also, we note that although sections 308, 309, and 310 authorize the 

 Secretary of Commerce to make grants to the States in amounts up to 

 100 percent for certain types of grants, the bill does not specifically 

 provide for evaluation of State programs by the Secretary of Com- 

 merce. It is our view that program evaluation is a fundamental part 

 of effective program administration and that the responsibility for 



