ical Survey and the Bureau of Land Management, 
which have responsibilities for the administration 
of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands. This bill, 
having been introduced by Senator Abraham Ribi- 
coff, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Govern- 
ment Operations, is considered to be the stalking 
horse for the generic class of energy-natural resource 
reorganization legislation that preceded the crea- 
tion of the Department of Energy in 1977. 
Senator Charles H. Percy announced his inten- 
tion to introduce a bill in the 95th Congress to create 
a Department of Energy Supply and Natural 
Resources (DESNR).°? Like the Ribicoff DENR 
proposal, the Perey DESNR concept would affect 
the ocean programs lying outside the Department of 
the Interior very little. 
Two bills introduced in the 94th Congress pro- 
posed to merge ocean activities into a broad-based 
natural resources agency similar to the original DNR 
concepts of the 92d Congress. The Resource Policy 
Reorganization Act of 1975 (S. 2726) proposed both 
a sweeping reorganization of Federal resource and 
energy programs and legislative reorganization to 
create a joint committee for oversight and policy. 
Under the scheme of S. 2726, all of the functions of 
NOAA, the civil functions of the Corps of Engineers 
and the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors, 
would be transferred to a newly created Department 
of Natural Resources. While Section 213 of the bill 
refers to transfer of organizational entities into an 
“Oceanic, Atmospheric, and Earth Sciences Adon- 
istration,” such an administration is not created by 
Section 203, which sets out the internal organization 
of DNR. Because of this inconsistency one is ne: 
able to comprehend fully how ocean programs would 
be administered within the proposed organization. 
It is reasonable to assume, however, that ocean 
functions would be under the cognizance of th: 
Earth Sciences Administration created in Sectic; 
203. 
A comprehensive reorganization proposal wax: 
made in S. 27, a bill which would create a Depa 
ment of Natural Resources and Environment. 7 
bill proposed a Cabinet-level depaiime:( wir 
would encompass the functions of the Department c 
the Interior (except the Bureau of Indian Aifais ani 
the Office of Territories), NOAA, civil functions of 
the Corps of Engineers, Board of Engineers for 
Rivers and Harbors, and related coastal engiiez:- 
ing activities as well as the U.S. Fore: Service, Soui 
Conservation Service, and resource c-:mponents of 
the Agricultural Research Service aid Economic 
Research Service of the Department of Agriculture, 
functions of the Pipeline Safety Office of the Depart- 
ment of Transportation, Water Resources Council, 
ERDA, NRC, and FEA. To the extent that DNRE 
would combine the functions of oceans and enviror- 
ment in a single agency, the proposal parallels the 
proposal for a Department of Environmevt and 
Oceans (DEO) in S. 3889. 
Outer Continental Shelf Management Reorganization 
Far-reaching revisions of the Outer Continental 
Shelf Lands Act of 1953 have been introduced in 
each Congress from the 92d through the 95th. Each 
of these would invoke major changes in the bidding 
system on OCS oil and gas leases and would signifi- 
cantly change the administration of offshore resource 
management. However, the bills would not affect the 
inherent authority of the Bureau of Land Manage- 
ment (BLM) to administer the leasing program in 
the Outer Continental Shelf lands, nor would the 
internal organization of the Department of the In- 
terior be affected. 
Some observers have proposed the creation of a 
“wet leasing” agency which would assume the au- 
thority for administering OCS lands and establish a 
center of expertise for administering Federal sub- 
merged lands. A proposal which would go part way 
toward accomplishing this was introduced in H.R. 
15527 of the 94th Congress. the “Outer Continental 
Shelf Management Reorganization Act.” The bill 
would establish an Office of Assistant Secretary for 
"U.S. Congress, Senate. Senator Charles Percy announcing 
his intention to create a Department of Energy Supply and 
Natural Resources. 94th Cong., 2d sess., 28 September 1976, 
Congressional Record 122: S 16944. 
Outer Continental Shelf matters within the Depart- 
ment of the Interior. All functions within the De- 
partment of the Interior dealing with the Outer Con- 
tinental Shelf with the exception of cartographic 
and surveying functions of the USGS, would be 
transferred to the Assistant Secretary. Other func- 
tions dealing with the placement or use of artificial 
islands, fixed structures, or. pipelines in the naviga- 
tional waters or within the coastal zone which are 
performed by the Denartment of Energy. Interstate 
Commerce Commission (ICC), Department of Trans- 
portation (DOT), and the Corps of Engineers, would 
also be transferred to the Assistant Secretary’s Office. 
The bill provides for the establishment of an 
Outer Continental Shelf Council consisting of the 
Assistant Secretary, the Administrators of EPA and 
ERDA, the Chief of Engineers, a representative of 
the Secretary of Commerce and, in the case of de- 
cisions affecting other agencies, the head of the 
affected agency or governor of an affected State. 
The OCS Council could review any decision made 
by.the Secretary of the Interior which would affect 
an agency from which a function was previously 
transferred. Any agency or department taking an 
action which would “directly and significantly” 
1X-33 
