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Outer Continental
Shelf Lands Act
The OCSLA of 1953 (67 Stat. 462), as amended (43 U.S.C. 1331 et seq. (1988))
established Federal jurisdiction over submerged lands on the OCS seaward of State
boundaries. Under the OCSLA, the Secretary of the Interior is responsible for the
administration of mineral exploration and development of the OCS. The Act empowers the
Secretary to grant leases to the highest qualified responsible bidder(s) on the basis of
sealed competitive bids and to formulate such regulations as necessary to carry out the
provisions of the Act. The Act, as amended, provides guidelines for implementing an OCS
oil and gas exploration and development program. The basic goals of the Act include the
following:
- to establish policies and procedures for managing the oil and natural gas resources of
the OCS that are intended to result in expedited exploration and development of the OCS in
order to achieve national economic and energy policy goals, assure national security,
reduce dependence on foreign sources, and maintain a favorable balance of payments in
world trade;
- to preserve, protect, and develop oil and natural gas resources of the OCS in a manner
that is consistent with the need
(a) to make such resources available to meet the nation's energy needs as rapidly as
possible;
(b) to balance orderly resource development with protection of the human, marine, and
coastal environments;
(c) to ensure the public a fair and equitable return on the resources of the OCS; and
(d) to preserve and maintain free enterprise competition; and
- to encourage development of new and improved technology for energy resource production,
which will eliminate or minimize risk of damage to the human, marine, and coastal
environments.
The Secretary of the Interior has designated the BOEMRE as the administrative agency
responsible for the mineral leasing of submerged OCS lands and for the supervision of
offshore operations after lease issuance. Regulations administered by the BOEMRE govern the
leasing of oil, gas, and sulphur mineral deposits on the OCS (30 CFR 256); the conduct of
mineral operations is contained in 30 CFR 250 and 30 CFR 251. Pertinent regulations are
also found at 30 CFR 252, 259, 260, and 270. Under Section 20 of the Act, the Secretary
shall ". . . conduct such additional studies to establish environmental information
as he deems necessary and shall monitor the human, marine, and coastal environments of
such area or region in a manner designed to provide time-series and data trend information
which can be used for comparison with any previously collected data for the purpose of
identifying any significant changes in the quality and productivity of such environments,
for establishing trends in the area studied and monitored, and for designing experiments
to identify the causes of such changes."
Return to Legal Mandates and Federal
Responsibilities On the Outer Continental Shelf
Return to Environmental Studies Offshore
Florida
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