1045 



this amount of land, with its consequent environmental impacts, will 

 have significant ramifications for the area and should not be mider- 

 taken without sufficient study and policy consideration. We do not 

 know whether any of the oil which may be found on Georges Bank 

 will be transported into New England — a crucial factor in determin- 

 ing how onsliore development should proceed. We do not know the net 

 impact of the needed increase in services which will be required of 

 municipalities, which may outweigh the benefits of any incraese in em- 

 ployment and tax revenues. We do not know what shifts in popula- 

 tion may occur and the increased services which may be required to 

 meet changing populations. We do not know how cities will be able to 

 respond to development activity which may occur. 



Our fishing industry, although it has been on the narrow edge of 

 survival for many years, is still a $50 million enterprise, and too valu- 

 able to be pushed aside without more accurate information on what 

 the long-term effects of offshore development will be on commercial 

 fishing stocks and the access of fishermen to those stocks. We have a 

 recreation industry that supplies 75,000 primary jobs and over 100,- 

 000 for secondary employment. The keystone to this industry is the 

 ocean — especially along Cape Cod. the closest landfall to the proposed 

 area of petrolemn development in New England. 



All of these issues are particularly critical to Massachusetts and New 

 England, following the issuance by the Interior Department last 

 January of preliminary list of 206 tracts to be leased on Georges 

 Bank — tracts covering 1 million acres. Included in this preliminary 

 list preliminary list are tracts within 50 miles of the Massachusetts 

 coast, as well as tracts covering high intensity fishing areas. I have 

 expressed my opposition to the inclusion of these particular tracts on 

 the list of those proposed to be leased between State, local, and Federal 

 officials to resolve these and other issues which are of paramount im- 

 portance to our State. 



The conference report the Coastal Zone Management Act amend- 

 ments we have before us today will be a major step in assigning high 

 priority to the resolution of problems surrounding the offshore leas- 

 ing process and its impact on the coastal zone. It creates a Coastal 

 Energy Impact Fund to provide $800 million and $400 million in for- 

 mula grants to coastal States to help them plan for and provide pubic 

 facilities such as roads, schools, and hospitals and a variety of other 

 public services which will result if energ;y facilities are located with 

 coastal regions. It is aimed directly at solving the environmental prob 

 lems brought about by rapid increases in population which can result 

 from development of such facilities. 



The legislation provides aid to States in two forms. The larger por- 

 tion, the Coastal Impact Fund, sets an $800 million authorization for 

 Federal loans, which would be repaid liy grants Avhen necessary. The 

 funds will be allocated to State and units of local government for as- 

 sistance to cover a wide variety of needs related to coastal energy 

 activity. A second form of assistance, totaling $400 million, would 

 be grants authorized on a formula related to the exploration, develop- 

 ment, and production of oil and gas in frontier areas of the Outer Con- 

 tinental Shelf, such as Gcoi'ges Bank. Aid would be granted on the 

 basis of acreage leased, the volume of oil and gas ])roduced and landed, 

 and the number of new jobholders in OCS employment. 



