medical care and schools. They also noted 
that there was less friendliness, less priv- 
acy, and—for the first time—discrimina- 
tion.” 
In rural Virginia there have been hot debates for 
2 years on the issue of whether the community of 
Cape Charles and Northampton County want to be 
the site of a 2,000-employee plant to construct 
offshore oil platforms. The issue was put before the 
voters in a county commission election. One group 
opposed the project, the other favored it (with cer- 
tain limits, such as the number of workers). The 
result, in November 1975, was a turnout of 83 
percent of the eligible voters, who handily approved 
candidates favoring the project.** 
“The vote was not a referendum, and no 
doubt other issues affected the outcome. 
But, the message was clear that citizens 
did not wish to reject the Brown and Root 
proposal. What is most likely is that many 
Northampton County citizens believed that 
large-scale industry and economic revival 
are not necessarily at odds with the peace, 
beauty, enjoyment of neighbors, and close- 
ness with nature that they love about the 
shore.” 
Status of the Coastal Zone Management Program 
State coastal zone management programs are in 
two basic stages—the planning effort or program 
development stage (authorized by Section 305 of the 
Act) and the operational or program administration 
stage (specified in Section 306 of the Act). A third 
phase consists of miscellaneous features. Chief 
among the latter is the $1.2 billion 10-year coastal 
energy impact program enacted in 1976, which is 
loosely tied to coastal management programs. 
This section describes program development since 
approval of the Act, efforts to evaluate the program 
underway in 1978, the status of each State’s program, 
and, in greater detail, the coastal zone management 
program for the State of Washington—the first State 
program to be approved. 
Program Development 
The pace of program development since approval 
of the Act in 1972 has been slower than expected— 
not unlike other environmentally oriented programs. 
From the Stratton Commission’s recommendation of 
Federal assistance for an initial 2-year period, the 
program was expanded to a 3-year planning effort 
authorized by the original 1972 act. The 1976 
amendments provide a fourth year of funding under 
Section 305 in recognition of the difficulty States 
are having in developing viable coastal pregrams, 
plus an additional 2-year period allowed under Sec- 
tion 305(d) for a “preliminary approval’ status. 
States will continue to receive funds under this ex- 
tended 2-year period if their program design is 
satisfactory, in the event that additional time is 
needed for administrative reorganization or legisla- 
tive enactment. Funding for section 305 development 
grants is scheduled to expire in fiscal year 1979. 
The projected goals for coastal zone management 
programs by the State reveals a record of missed 
target dates and a propensity of the Office of Coastal 
Zone Management (OCZM) to be overly optimistic 
in its estimates of State program schedules. 
In February 1976, OCZM predicted 17 States 
and two segments of State coasts would be eligible 
to receive program operation money (Section 306 
funds) by the end of fiscal year 1977. Actually, only 
two West Coast States (Washington and Oregon), 
plus segments of California (San Francisco Bay) and 
Puerto Rico (Culebra Island) were approved by that 
date. In testimony before the House Appropriations 
Subcommittee with jurisdiction over the Department 
of Commerce budget, it was projected that the re- 
maining 19 States would have their programs com- 
pleted by the end of fiscal year 1978. 
The projected completion dates of State coastal 
management programs have been consistently wide 
of the mark (table 4-4). A projection made on 
August 1, 1977, notes that in 5 of the 16 States ex- 
pected to complete their program in fiscal year 1978, 
success depends on legislative action. The OCZM 
document says a “pessimistic” view has four instead 
of eight programs being finished in the first half of 
1978 (table 4-5). 
To some observers the time scale for coastal zone 
management has been unrealistic from the start, be- 
ginning with the initial 3-year period enacted by 
the Congress. In this view, the process should have 
been thought of as a 10-year effort from the outset, 
in recognition of the inherent difficulties involved. 
The Federal expenditures for the program through 
September 30, 1977 include $64.5 million of funds 
’ distributed to the States under the three original 
63 Ibid., p. 107. 
IV-20 
