The vote is on final passage of the Ocean and Coastal Resources Management and Development Fund (H.R. 5543). The bill would set aside up to $300 million of the estimated $10 to $15 billion of yearly federal revenues from proposed offshore oil and gas lease sales. The money would be used to fund state coastal resource management programs designed to control the impact of offshore oil drilling and other coastal development. 70% of the population now lives near the coast, creating enormous development pressures on fragile and valuable resources. Two thirds of all sport and commercial fish spend part of their lives in coastal estuaries and wetlands, and countless water birds depend on them as well. Beaches and dunes tend to erode if buildings are put on them. The mayor of Miami Beach recently spent $65 million trucking in sand because the beach had entirely washed away.

10% to 20% of the money in the Fund would go to the National Sea Grant College Program for marine research and technical assistance. The rest would be divided among the coast and Great Lakes states in block grants. 30% of the block grant for each state would go towards implementing a coastal zone management plan to identify and control activities which could harm the coast. 20% would be earmarked for managing fisheries and marine life. 40% could be spent on a variety of state natural resource programs, and 10% would go specifically toward reducing the damage done by offshore energy development. States like Massachusetts are using the Coastal Zone Management Act to challenge Watt's offshore oil leases in court, but the states need money to assess the impacts so they can later make their case. The bill was designed to rescue coastal programs which the Reagan Administration wanted to terminate. Bill adopted 260-134; September 29, 1982. YES is the pro-environmental vote. The bill died in the Senate.