590
Opinion of the Court
Accordingly, we find no merit in Alaska's argument that, in conducting the permit review process under RHA § 10, the Secretary cannot consider a project's effects on the federal-state boundary.
IV
Finally, Alaska maintains that even if the regulations are authorized by the RHA, the Secretary's actions were not consistent with those regulations. The State argues that nothing in the applicable regulations authorizes the Army Corps of Engineers to force a coastal State to abdicate rights to submerged lands as a condition to issuance of a permit for construction of a shoreline project. Alaska suggests that "the regulation addresses activities on submerged lands, not the property interests in the submerged lands." Brief for Alaska 28. Nor can the Secretary derive authority to condition disclaimers on interagency coordination responsibilities, according to the State, because 33 CFR § 320.4(g)(6) (1991) states specifically that "dispute[s] over property ownership will not be a factor in the Corps' public interest decision." Alaska further posits that the regulations at § 320.4(a)(1), which include numerous factors to be evaluated in balancing the public interest, do not make reference to the United States' property interests.
As our analysis in Parts III-A and III-B suggests, we do not find this argument persuasive. The regulations indicate that the Corps may include in its evaluation the "effects of the proposed work on the outer continental rights of the United States." 33 CFR § 320.4(f) (1991). It is untenable to maintain that the legitimate property interests of the United States fall outside the relevant criteria for a decision that requires the Secretary to determine whether issuance of a permit would affect the "public interest." The regulawe note that Alaska would gain no benefit because the purpose behind imposing a condition for issuance of the permit—to protect federal rights to submerged lands—is the same as that for denying the permit.
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