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Protecting the Environment – MMS Monitoring Activities on the OCS

These web pages are designed to provide a report of MMS monitoring activities on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). Monitoring for both regulatory compliance and scientific purposes is currently conducted by MMS in support of managing the Nation’s offshore oil and gas and sand and gravel resources. These pages are updated on a semi-annual basis and will also include monitoring associated with gas hydrate and alternative energy activities as these offshore resources are developed commercially.

The Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Lands Act Amendments of 1978 and the National Environmental Policy Act establish  mandates for conducting environmental studies and compliance monitoring. With respect to managing the resources of the OCS, the Secretary of the Interior is charged with monitoring the human, marine, and coastal environments to identify significant changes in the quality or productivity of an area, to establish trends, and to design experiments to identify the causes of observed changes. Compliance monitoring ensures that offshore operations are conducted safely and in an environmentally sound manner through adherence to environmental laws, regulations, and executive orders. The MMS Environmental Compliance webpage provides links to the legal requirements and MMS policies and procedures that apply to the OCS oil and gas program.

MMS has developed definitions for Environmental Compliance Monitoring and Environmental Studies and Research Monitoring that have been adapted from the 1990 National Research Council report, “Managing Troubled Waters: the Role of Marine Environmental Monitoring”. Monitoring is intended to produce information for “compliance to ensure that activities are carried out in accordance with regulations and permit requirements" and "trend monitoring, to identify and quantify longer-term environmental changes anticipated (hypothesized) as possible consequences of human activities”.

The MMS uses monitoring information in an Adaptive Management approach to offshore energy and mineral resources. Incorporating results of monitoring activities into future decisions enhances the credibility of MMS offshore resource management.