GOVERNMENT REGULATION OF LAND , the United States' most basic resource, is gathering momentum from Washington officials. Congress, backed by the Nixon administration, is trying to establish measures that could affect millions of people... what they can do with their property, where to build or buy new homes, and even where you can spend your vacation.
There is still an estimated 10 acres for everyone in the country, but the postwar "baby boom" is causing the formation of 27,000 new households each week and, in the next two decades, power plants and transmission lines alone will take up over 5,000 square miles. Because of this growth pattern, Hawaii has zoned every foot of its territory, earmarking sections for urban, rural, agricultural or conservation uses... California requires special permits for coastal construction, while Maine, Vermont, Florida, Washington and Oregon are trying to pass laws to control a stampede of land speculators.
The Land Use Policy Act (S. 268), introduced for a second time by Sen. Henry Jackson, D.-Wash., passed the Senate 64 to 21, but awaits reconciliation with differing House proposals. If approved, participating states would share 100 million dollars to set up authorities to inventory land and resources, regulate sales and developments, control environmentally sensitive areas, influence locations of new communities and keep building in line with pollution laws.
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