Well, I believe the states (or most of them) and certainly the people now want their land and natural resources. The 1976 act is unconstitutional. Period.
Why are you defending BIG government tyranny on FR? I think that would better be done on moveon.org.
I'm not defending anybody, I'm merely pointing out that there is history as to how things became as they are and you can't go back and change history.
Similarly, there is a history as to how the sub-merged lands on our coast came to be owned by who. The federal govt owns most of that. But the constitution doesn't say anything about that.
So, in reality, when the states entered the union, each state would negotiate a settlement with the feds about who owned what land.
In 1954, Eisenhower negotiated an agreement with the coastal states as to what part of the continental shelf belonged to the feds and what part belonged to the states. But before that, Truman issued a proclamation claiming the entire continental shelf for the feds(1945), and SCOTUS upheld him.