FOR RELEASE:  June 22, 1995                 CONTACT:  Tom DeRocco
                                                   (202) 208-3983

           MMS EXTENDS COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT WITH NORTH CAROLINA
                     TO STUDY OFFSHORE SAND RESOURCES

     The U.S. Department of the Interior's Minerals Management
Service (MMS) awarded $80,000 to North Carolina's Department of
Environment Health and Natural Resources, MMS officials announced
today.  The money funds a continuing effort to assess potentially
suitable sand resources for beach nourishment along the North
Carolina Outer Banks.

     "The MMS is committed to assisting coastal states in
locating federal sand resources to restore and preserve their
beaches," said MMS Director Cynthia Quarterman.  "The MMS/North
Carolina Sand Resources Task Force has been very successful in
planning and implementing surveys of offshore sand resources. 
These new data will provide us with a better understanding of the
area's sand resource potential.  MMS is pleased to be a partner
with North Carolina in promoting good science that will help
restore eroding coastlines."

     The task force is working to interpret 535 nautical miles of
digital seismic and sonar data showing water depth and topography
information about the ocean bottom along the North Carolina coast
from Oregon Inlet to Duck.  Scientists will collect up to 150
sediment samples to supplement the digital and sonar data and
verify whether the sand's type, texture and grain size is
consistent with beach sand along the North Carolina Shore.

     Similar efforts to evaluate marine mineral resources --
including other non-energy minerals -- in federal waters have
been initiated with other states on the East Coast and the Gulf
of Mexico.

     The MMS' Office of International Activities and Marine
Minerals (INTERMAR) is responsible for managing sand and other
non-energy mineral resources in federal waters on the Outer
Continental Shelf (OCS).  For more information contact INTERMAR
at (703) 787-1300.

     The MMS is the federal agency that manages the nation's
natural gas, oil and other mineral resources on the OCS, and
collects and disburses about $4 billion yearly in revenues from
offshore federal mineral leases and from onshore mineral leases
on federal and Indian lands.

                                   -MMS-