Minerals Management Service 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This notice informs the public that the MMS has developed offshore administrative lines from each adjoining coastal state as described below. Having these lines in place provides various benefits, including: 1. Enhancing the Secretary's ability to ensure that the ``4-C's'' communication, consultation and cooperation, all in support of conservationare considered as she engages in efforts to identify which State has the most interest in the extended area offshore from its coastline because of the increasing number of commercial activities on the Federal OCS, such as permits for liquefied natural gas facilities, wind power, and wave energy; 2. Providing the basis for more accurate delineation of OCS planning areas; 3. Assisting in ``affected State'' status under the Coastal Zone Management Act and the OCS Lands Act. For example, section 18 of the OCS Lands Act requires the Secretary to consider the ``laws, goals, and policies of affected States.'' Similarly, section 19 analysis requires the Secretary to balance national interests with the ``well-being of the citizens of the affected State''; 4. Providing a more accurate basis for the Secretary to consider support for, or objections to, a State's request to analyze leasing off its shores. Without such administrative lines, it is difficult to define these areas accurately; 5. Assisting in the section 18 comparative analysis to determine ``an equitable sharing of developmental benefits and environmental risks among regions.'' Such lines will more accurately define the necessary assumptions of what are ``regions''; and 6. Helping define appropriate consultation and information sharing with States. For example, section 19(e) authorizes cooperative agreement with affected States for such activities as information sharing, joint planning, review of plans, and environmental monitoring. This is even more important with the recent passage of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 which gave the MMS the authority to permit alternative and renewable energy projects on the OCS. Many of these projects will be located in areas in which the MMS has not recently been active.