![handle is hein.journals/ocoaslme1983 and id is 1 raw text is:
Ocean and Coastal Law Center * School of Law * University of Oregon - Eugene 97403
e Coastal Law memo
Issue 3
March 1983
FEDERAL CONSISTENCY WITH STATE COASTAL PROGRAMS:
California v. Watt and Kean v. Watt
The federal Coastal Zone Management
Act (CZMA) mandates that all federal
activities directly affecting the
coastal zone be conducted in a manner
consistent to the maximum extent practi-
cable with a federally approved state
coastal management plan. But at what
point do federal activities directly
affect the coastal zone? Is a direct
effect a physical effect on the lands
and waters of the coastal zone? Or is
the definition broader than that, there-
by including the Department of Inte-
rior's planning process for oil and gas
lease sales, the decision to lease and
the terms of the leases to be offered?
This Coastal Law Memo discusses the re-
cent judicial interpretations of the
CZMA consistency provisions in Cali-
fornia v. Watt, 683 F.2d 1254 (9th Cir.
1982), rehearing denied, Nov. 10, 1982,
and Kean v. Watt No. 82-2420 (D. New
Jersey Sept. 17, 1982). Also discussed
in this Memo are some questions about
federal consistency not answered by
those decisions.
I. The Consistency Provisions of the
Federal Coastal Zone Management Act
(CZMA)
The CZMA has two central goals:
to preserve, [and] protect the re-
sources of the nation's coastal zone
and to encourage and assist the states
to exercise effectively their responsi-
bilities in the coastal zone through the
. . . implementation of management pro-
grams to achieve wise use of the land
and water resources of the coastal
zone. Congress encouraged states to
develop coastal management programs
(CMPs) by providing coastal states with
federal funding and the consistency
provisions of section 307 of the CZMA.
The consistency provisions of the
CZMA confirm the quid pro quo relation-
ship between the states and the federal
government in the maInlageient uf coastal
resources. In essence, the consistency
provisions promise that federal
activities affecting state coastal zones
will be conducted in a manner
consistent, to the maximum extent
practicable, with state coastal
management programs if the states deve-
lop and implement CMPs and if the CMPs
are approved by the Department of Com-
merce. Specifically, federal activites
must be consistent with state CMPs in
five circumstances: 1) when federal
agency activities directly affect the
coastal zone; 2) when federal agency de-
velopment programs occur in the coast-
al zone; 3) when federal licenses or
permits are issued to conduct activities
that directly affect the coastal zone;
4) when the Secretary of Interior ap-
proves plans for the exploration and
production of oil and gas on lands leas-
ed under the Outer Continental Shelf
Lands Act and those plans affect any
land or water use in the coastal zone;
and 5) when federal assistance is given
to state and local activities directly
affecting the coastal zone.
The act does not specifically in-
clude federal activities that occur be-
fore OCS leases are sold and industry
plans for exploration are submitted.
Coastal states, however, have viewed
prelease activities as federal activi-
ties directly affecting the coastal
zone. These prelease sale decisions de-
termine the scope and nature of all the
oil and gas activities in the sale area
on the OCS. Prelease actions include
Interior's decisions on which tracts
will be leased and whether the lease
will contain stipulations to minimize
environmental degredation. (For a de-
tailed discussion of the OCS lease sale
process and its nexus with the CZMA see,
Federal Consistency, Report 3 to the
Oregon Outer Continental Shelf Oil and
Gas Development Task Force, January
1979; and Ocean Law Memo, Issue 12,
Feoruary 1979.)
Distributed by: OSU Extension Service' Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program, Corvallis, OR 97331](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/ocoaslme1983&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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