Coastal Zone Management Improvement Act of 1980

(Measure passed House, amended)

Coastal Zone Management Improvement Act of 1980 - Amends the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 to declare that it is the national policy to provide for: (1) the protection of natural resources within the coastal zone; (2) the management of coastal development; (3) priority consideration to coastal- dependent uses and orderly processes for siting major facilities related to national defense, energy, fisheries development, recreation, ports and transportation; (4) public access to the coasts for recreation purposes; (5) the coordination and simplification of procedures in order to ensure expedited governmental decisionmaking for the management of coastal resources; (6) continued consultation and coordination with affected Federal agencies; (7) the giving of timely and effective opportunities for public participation in coastal management decisionmaking; (8) assistance in the redevelopment of deteriorating urban waterfronts and ports, and sensitive preservation and restoration of historic, cultural, and aesthetic coastal features; and (9) assistance to support comprehensive planning, conservation, and management for living marine resources.

Defines the term "coastal resource of national significance" for the purposes of this Act. Includes the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and the Trust Territories of the Pacific Islands, within the definition of "coastal State" for purposes of this Act.

Allows the Secretary of Commerce to make grants to any coastal State for not more than 80 percent of the costs of administering such State's coastal management program if the Secretary determines that such program meets specified requirements.

Encourages the coastal States to amend their coastal management programs to provide for: (1) the inventory and designation of areas that contain one or more resources of national significance; and (2) specific and enforceable standards to protect such resources. Specifies that if the Secretary determines that a coastal State has failed to make satisfactory progress in such activities by September 30, 1984, the Secretary shall not make any grants to such State.

Allows the Secretary to make grants to any eligible coastal State to assist that State in meeting one or more of the following objectives: (1) the preservation or restoration of specific areas of the State; (2) the redevelopment of deteriorating and underutilized urban waterfronts and ports that are designated in the State's management program as areas of particular concern; and (3) the provision of access to public beaches and other public coastal areas and to coastal waters.

Allows such grants to be used for: (1) the acquisition of fee simple and other interests in land; (2) low cost construction projects determined by the Secretary to be consistent with the purposes of this Act; (3) the rehabilitation or acquisition of piers to provide increased public use, including compatible commercial activity; (4) the establishment of shoreline stabilization measures including the installation or rehabilitation of bulkheads for the purpose of increasing public access and use; (5) the removal of pilings where such action will provide increased recreational use of urban waterfront areas; (6) engineering designs, specifications, and other appropriate reports; and (7) educational interpretive and management costs and such other related costs as the Secretary determines to be consistent with the purposes of this Act.

Limits such grants to no more than 80 percent of the costs of carrying out the purpose or project for which they were awarded.

Allows an eligible coastal State, with the approval of the Secretary, to allocate a portion of any grant to a local government, an areawide agency, a regional agency, or an interstate agency.

Directs the Secretary to assist eligible coastal States and their local governments in identifying and obtaining other sources of available Federal technical and financial assistance regarding the objectives of this Act.

Directs the Secretary to make grants to any coastal State to enable such State to prevent, reduce, or ameliorate any unavoidable loss in such State's coastal zone of any valuable environmental or recreational resource, if such loss results from the transportation, transfer, or storage of coal or from alternative ocean energy activities.

Authorizes the Secretary to permit two or more coastal States to use a portion of the resource management grants made to them under this Act for the purposes of interstate coastal management coordination.

Requires the Secretary to conduct a continuing review of the performance of coastal States with respect to coastal management.

Provides for the reduction of financial assistance to any coastal State if the Secretary determines that the coastal State is failing to make significant improvement in achieving the coastal management objectives.

Directs the Secretary to withdraw approval of the management program of any coastal State, and to withdraw any financial assistance available to that State if the Secretary determines that the coastal State is failing to adhere to, and is not justified in deviating from: (1) the management program approved by the Secretary; or (2) the terms of any grant or cooperative agreement funded under this Act, and refuses to remedy the deviation.

Prohibits the withdrawal of such management program approval and financial assistance unless the Secretary gives the coastal State notice of the proposed withdrawal and an opportunity for a public hearing on the proposed action.

Directs the Secretary to carry out research on, and offer technical assistance to the coastal States with respect to, those activities, projects, and other relevant matters that the Secretary considers to offer promise toward improving coastal zone management.

Requires the Secretary to prepare and submit to the President for transmittal to the Congress a report summarizing the administration of such Act during each period of two consecutive fiscal years.

Requires the Secretary to conduct a systematic review of Federal programs, other than the coastal zone management programs set forth in such Act, which affect coastal resources for purposes of identifying conflicts between the objectives and administration of such programs and the purposes and policies of such Act. Requires the Secretary, within one year after the date of enactment of this Act, to notify each Federal agency having appropriate jurisdiction of any conflict between its program and the purposes and policies of this title. Directs the Secretary to promptly report such information to Congress and recommend necessary changes to resolve existing conflicts among Federal laws and programs affecting the uses of coastal resources.

Allows the Secretary to make grants to any coastal State for the purposes of acquiring lands to provide for the preservation of islands.

Requires the Secretary of Commerce, after promulgating a final rule pursuant to the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972, to submit such final rule to congress for review and referral to specified congressional committees. Declares that any such final rule shall become effective in accordance with its terms unless, before the end of the period of 60 calendar days of continuous session after the date such final rule is submitted to Congress, both Houses of Congress adopt a concurrent resolution disapproving such final rule.

Authorizes appropriations to carry out the purposes of this Act.