§1222 — Title 16 Conservation | U.S. Code

Summary

The Secretary of the Interior must study and list the Nation’s estuaries. The work will be done with States, the Secretary of the Army, and other federal agencies. It covers coastal marshes, bays, sounds, seaward areas, lagoons, and land and water of the Great Lakes. The study must look at wildlife and recreation, ecology, value to fisheries and beauty, use for navigation and for flood, hurricane, and erosion control, mineral and underwater land value, and the potential for urban, commercial, or industrial development. The work must be coordinated with the estuarine pollution study under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act and other related studies. The Secretary must decide whether areas should be bought or managed by the federal government, States, or local governments, or protected by laws instead. A report and any proposed laws must be sent to Congress through the President by January 30, 1970. No land may be bought until Congress approves. Recommendations must include input from States, towns, and other agencies (their views within 60 days), effects on river basin plans or other users, and a summary of economic, social, and ecological trends. Up to $250,000 is authorized for fiscal year 1969 and $250,000 for fiscal year 1970; the money remains available until spent.

Title 16, §1222

Conservation — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The Secretary of the Interior, in consultation and in cooperation with the States, the Secretary of the Army, and other Federal agencies, shall conduct directly or by contract a study and inventory of the Nation’s estuaries, including without limitation coastal marshlands, bays, sounds, seaward areas, lagoons, and land and waters of the Great Lakes. For the purpose of this study, the Secretary shall consider, among other matters, (1) their wildlife and recreational potential, their ecology, their value to the marine, anadromous, and shell fisheries and their esthetic value, (2) their importance to navigation, their value for flood, hurricane, and erosion control, their mineral value, and the value of submerged lands underlying the waters of the estuaries, and (3) the value of such areas for more intensive development for economic use as part of urban developments and for commercial and industrial developments. This study and inventory shall be carried out in conjunction with the comprehensive estuarine pollution study authorized by section 5(g) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as amended [33 U.S.C. 1254(n)], and other applicable studies.

(b)The study shall focus attention on whether any land or water area within an estuary and the Great Lakes should be acquired or administered by the Secretary or by a State or local subdivision thereof, or whether such land or water area may be protected adequately through local, State, or Federal laws or other methods without Federal land acquisition or administration.

(c)The Secretary of the Interior shall, not later than January 30, 1970, submit to the Congress through the President a report of the study conducted pursuant to this section, together with any legislative recommendations, including recommendations on the feasibility and desirability of establishing a nationwide system of estuarine areas, the terms, conditions, and authorities to govern such system, and the designation and acquisition of any specific estuarine areas of national significance which he believes should be acquired by the United States. No lands within such area may be acquired until authorized by subsequent Act of Congress. Recommendations made by the Secretary for the acquisition of any estuarine area shall be developed in consultation with the States, municipalities, and other interested Federal agencies. Each such recommendation shall be accompanied by (1) expressions of any views which the interested States, municipalities, and other Federal agencies and river basin commissions may submit within sixty days after having been notified of the proposed recommendations, (2) a statement setting forth the probable effect of the recommended action on any comprehensive river basin plan that may have been adopted by Congress or that is serving as a guide for coordinating Federal programs in the basin wherein such area is located, (3) in the absence of such a plan, a statement indicating the probable effect of the recommended action on alternative beneficial users of the resources of the proposed estuarine area, and (4) a discussion of the major economic, social, and ecological trends occurring in such area.

(d)There is authorized to be appropriated not to exceed $250,000 for fiscal year 1969 and $250,000 for fiscal year 1970 to carry out the provisions of this section. Such sums shall be available until expended.

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section 5(g) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, referred to in text, was originally classified to section 466c(g) of Title 33, Navigation and Navigable Waters. section 5(g) of the Act was redesignated as section 5(m) by sec. 105(l) of Pub. L. 91–224, Apr. 3, 1970, 84 Stat. 111, and was reclassified to section 1155(m) of Title 33. The Federal Water Pollution Control Act was amended generally by sec. 2 of Pub. L. 92–500, Oct. 18, 1972, 86 Stat. 816, and the provisions relating to comprehensive estuarine pollution study are contained in section 104(n), which is classified to section 1254(n) of Title 33.

§1222 General Study and Inventory of Estuaries and Their Natural Resources

Summary

Title 16, §1222

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

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