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GAO reviews coastal zone management
The U.S. Government Accountability Office has published the findings of its review of the workings of the National Coastal Zone Management Program. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration administers the program under the terms of the 1972 Coastal Zone Management Act. And under the program individual coastal states such as Alaska operate their own coastal management plans, with NOAA oversight.
The Alaska Coastal Management Plan, which NOAA last approved in December 2005, has a major impact on energy project permitting in the state.
Congress is currently considering the re-authorization of the Coastal Zone Management Act.
The GAO review has recommended a revisit of the way in which grant money awarded to the states under the coastal zone management program is allocated.
Alaska’s funds restricted The bulk of that money is paid to the states to help fund state administration of the coastal management plans. But although in principle the distribution of administration grant money between the coastal states is based on the relative length of each state’s coastline, an upper limit of $2 million in grant money per state results in states such as Alaska that have long coastlines receiving approximately the same grant each year. On the other hand states with short coastlines have seen their grants increase.
Alaska, with a 33,904-mile coastline, has by far the longest coast of any of the coastal states.
“GAO suggests that Congress clarify whether CZMA grants should reflect state coastal variations,” GAO said.
GAO also made several recommendations to improve the way that NOAA evaluates state coastal management programs.
“NOAA’s evaluations of state programs are of limited value because they do not provide the agency with independent information to assess program performance against performance goals,” GAO said.
NOAA has disagreed with a specific GAO recommendation for the development of new performance measures for assessing the operation of state coastal management plans, but the agency is in general agreement with the other GAO findings.
—Alan Bailey
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