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Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act - History

August 7, 2003 marks the 50^th anniversary of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) of 1953--legislative action that provided a framework for regulating and managing the production of oil, gas, and other minerals.

The tidelands controversy between the United States and Texas precipitated the OCSLA.  It involved a dispute over the title to approximately 2.5 million acres of submerged land in the Gulf of Mexico between low tide and the state’s Gulfward boundary almost 10 miles from shore.  Texas first acquired this land when it entered the Union in 1845, with ownership recognized by Federal officials for more than 100 years. 

In 1950, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Secretary of the Interior's position that the Federal government, not the States, possessed full power over the lands and natural resources in the submerged land areas seaward of the coasts of the United States.  Responding to public concern about the ownership and development of offshore resources, Congress, in 1953, enacted the OCS Lands Act and the Submerged Lands Act.   

These laws authorized the Secretary of the Interior to grant mineral leases and to prescribe regulations governing oil and gas activities on OCS lands.  The OCSLA also recognized the need for conducting operations safely and using technology to minimize the likelihood of fires, spills, and interference with other uses of the ocean.

The OCSLA has been amended six times between 1978 and 1998.  These amendments included, for example, the establishment of an oil spill liability fund and the distribution of a portion of the receipts from the leasing of mineral resources of the OCS to coastal States. These revenues totaled more than $6 billion in 2002 and nearly $127 billion since MMS was created in 1982. 

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Last Updated:  08/14/2008, 07:41 AM