The NewsRoom
Release: #3370
Date: October 6, 2005

MMS Launches OCS Renewable Energy & Alternative Use Website

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Minerals Management Service now has lead authority for renewable energy projects, such as wave, wind or solar energy on offshore lands, and other projects that make alternative use of existing oil and natural gas platforms. With that authority comes the launching of a new Web site explaining outer continental shelf renewable energy and alternative use. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 granted MMS management authority for these types of projects through an amendment to the OCS Lands Act.

The Act was signed by President George W. Bush on August 8th, and since then, MMS has been actively working to establish the OCS Renewable Energy & Alternative Use Program.

MMS is required to issue regulations for carrying out its new authority by mid-May 2006. The Act also designates that the coastal States will share in 27% of the revenues generated from alternative energy activities within the area extending three nautical miles seaward of a State's submerged lands. Therefore, MMS will establish, by mid-February 2006, a formula for sharing this revenue among coastal states within 15 miles of a renewable energy project. Ultimately, MMS will develop and execute an OCS Renewable Energy & Alternative Use Program that judiciously integrates these new uses with existing uses of federal offshore resources.

Under this new authority, MMS becomes the lead Federal agency for permitting and regulatory oversight of the Cape Wind project, offshore Nantucket, Massachusetts, and any other projects already submitted to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. However, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will continue to play a key role in the project pursuant to its authority under the Rivers and Harbors Act.

MMS, part of the U.S. Department of the Interior, oversees 1.76 billion acres of the Outer Continental Shelf, managing offshore energy and minerals while protecting the human, marine, and coastal environments. The OCS provides 30 percent of oil and 21 percent of natural gas produced domestically, as well as sand used for coastal restoration. MMS collects, accounts for, and disburses mineral revenues from Federal and American Indian lands, and contributes to the Land and Water Conservation Fund and other special use funds, with Fiscal Year 2004 disbursements of about $8 billion and more than $143 billion since 1982.

Relevant Web Site:
   MMS Main Website

Media Contact:
   Nicolette Nye
   (703) 787-1011

MMS: Securing Ocean Energy & Economic Value for America
U.S. Department of the Interior
 

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