570
Syllabus
United States v. Pennsylvania Industrial Chemical Corp., 411 U. S. 655. In addition, since the late 1960's, the regulations adopted by the Corps have interpreted its statutory authority as empowering it to take into account several "public interest" factors—including a full range of economic, social, and environmental factors—in addition to navigation in deciding whether to issue a § 10 permit. See, e. g., 33 CFR § 320.4(a)(1). Pp. 576-583. (b) There is no merit to Alaska's argument that any statutory mandate authorizing the Secretary to consider factors in addition to navigation is exceeded by 33 CFR § 320.4(f), which authorizes consideration of a project's consequences on the federal-state boundary. Contrary to Alaska's position, the Corps' practice does not conflict with the Submerged Lands Act (SLA), which provides that a coastal State's boundary extends three miles from its coastline. Although coastlines are subject to change from natural or artificial alterations, see, e. g., United States v. California, 381 U. S. 139, 176-177 (California II), the Secretary is making no effort to alter a State's existing rights to sovereignty over submerged lands within three miles of the coastline. Rather the Corps is, in a reasonable exercise of its authority, determining whether an artificial addition to the coastline will increase the State's control over submerged lands to the detriment of the United States' legitimate interests. Neither the SLA nor its legislative history addresses the effect of artificial additions to the coastline, and this Court sanctioned, in California II, supra, at 177, the mechanism exercised by the Secretary in this case. Nor do this Court's decisions prohibit the Secretary from considering in the permit review process changes in federal-state boundaries that will result in the establishment of one boundary for international purposes—since artificial additions always affect such boundaries—and a different one for domestic purposes. Specifically, the Secretary's action does not conflict with California II, because that case did not specify a goal of achieving a single domestic and international coastline. Pp. 583-591. (c) There is also no merit to Alaska's argument that, even if the regulations are valid, they do not authorize the Corps to force a coastal State to abdicate rights to submerged lands as a condition to a permit's issuance. It is untenable to say that the United States' legitimate property interests fall outside the relevant criteria for a decision that requires the Secretary to determine whether a permit's issuance would affect the "public interest." And it would make little sense, and be inconsistent with Congress' intent, to hold that the Corps legitimately may prohibit construction of a port facility, and yet to deny it the authority to seek the less drastic alternative of conditioning the permit's issuance on the State's disclaimer of rights to accreted submerged lands.
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