Managing the Federal Coastal Program The Planning Years

Abstract

The Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 was one of a series of laws enacted in the early 1970s in support of state planning efforts. By the time funds were made available under the program in 1974, eligible states had enacted or were considering a wide variety of coastal management statutes. Other laws were under consideration. It fell to the Office of Coastal Zone Management, a small unit of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, to establish national standards for the planning effort that would lead to approval of state programs and a coherent national coastal management effort. This article attempts to delineate, through the coastal zone management experience, the practical limits to a federal role in implementing state land planning and regulatory controls, as well as important implications of federal action and inaction within those limits.