Chapter § 10.8 Coastal Zone Management Program

• Jurisdiction: Washington

§10.8 COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT PROGRAM

The federal coastal zone management program was created under the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 (CZMA), 16 U.S.C. §§1451-1466, discussed below.

(1) Purpose and description of the CZMA

The CZMA was passed to encourage coastal states to adopt management plans for their shorelines for reasons similar to those which led to the enactment of the Washington SMA. The CZMA is administered by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The two major incentives provided in the CZMA were (1) grant money to states to develop their CZMPs; and (2) the assurance that, once a CZMP was developed by a state and approved by the federal government, all federal agency actions would have to be consistent with the adopted CZMP. See also Volume 5, Chapter 16(Coastal Zone Management and Watershed Planning), of this deskbook.

(2) The Washington CZMP

Washington state's CZMP was the first to be approved by the federal government, in 1976. Washington applies a liberal definition of "coastal zone," one that embraces all relevant activities anywhere in the 15 coastal counties of Washington, as well as activities outside these counties that may impact Washington's coastal resources. According to the DOE, most, but not all, activities and development outside the coastal zone are presumed to not impact coastal resources.

The DOE publication entitled Managing Washington's Coast, which DOE most recently updated in 2001, presents the terms and features of the state's approved coastal zone management program. See Dep't of Ecology, Managing Washington's Coast—Washington's Coastal Zone Management Program (Feb. 2001), http://www.ecy.wa.gov/pubs/0006029.pdf. The Washington CZMP comprises eight environmental statutes: (1) the SMA, guidelines, and local SMPs; (2) the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. §§1251-1387; (3) the Clean Air Act, Ch. 70.94 RCW (4) the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA), Ch. 43.21C RCW (5) the Energy Facilities Siting Act, Ch. 80.50 RCW (6) the Transport of Petroleum Products Act, Ch. 88.40 RCW (7) the Ocean Resources Management Act, Ch. 43.143 RCW (which applies to activities beyond three miles); and (8) the Environmental Coordination Procedures Act, Ch. 90.62 RCW. Therefore, a project subject to the CZMA must demonstrate consistency with all of these state and federal authorities.

Even though the Washington CZMP embraces more than the SMA, the SMA forms the "core" of the Washington CZMP. Friends of the Earth (FOE) v. U.S. Navy, 841 F.2d 927, 935, injunction dissolved, 850 F.2d 599 (9th Cir. 1988). The Washington CZMP requires that consistency with the SMA be certified by providing DOE with a copy of a shoreline substantial development permit, conditional use permit, variance, or a letter of exemption pursuant to the Act. The SMA, including its permit requirements, applies independently of the CZMA to (1) private activities on federal lands, as long as Congress has not preempted the SMA through some law or regulation, Cal. Coastal Comm'n v. Granite Rock Co., 480 U.S. 572, 592, 107 S. Ct. 1419, 94 L. Ed. 2d 577 (1987); and (2) the activities of any federal agency that would otherwise be subject to SMA jurisdiction, whether or not those activities occur on federal lands, FOE, 841 F.2d at...