What is federal consistency?
The U.S. Congress passed the federal Coastal Zone Management Act [CZMA] in the early 1970’s to address competing uses and resource impacts occurring in the nationís coastal areas. The Act included several incentives to encourage coastal states to develop coastal management programs. One incentive was a legal authority called ìfederal consistencyî that was granted to coastal states with federally approved coastal management programs. The federal consistency provisions of the CZMA require that any federal action occurring in or outside of Oregon’s coastal zone which affects coastal land or water uses or natural resources must be consistent with the Oregon Coastal Management Program. The federal consistency requirement is a rather unique concept in that state programs for coastal management cannot generally be preempted by federal law. The federal Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management [OCRM] oversees the application of federal consistency authority by state coastal programs. You
