Section 388 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct) gave the US Department of the Interior (DOI) jurisdiction over activities that "produce or support production, transportation, or transmission of energy from sources other than oil or gas" (43 U.S.C. § 1337(p)(C) & (D)). The Secretary of the Interior delegated this authority to the Minerals Management Service (MMS). On April 29, 2009, MMS published a final rule entitled Renewable Energy and Alternative Uses of Existing Facilities on the Outer Continental Shelf ("final rule" or "regulatory framework"; 30 C.F.R. Part 285). In the final rule, MMS established procedures for authorizing and managing renewable energy projects on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). This article briefly explains the contours of MMS jurisdiction, the procedures for obtaining authorizations for renewable energy activities on the OCS, and the status of current OCS renewable energy leasing activities. MMS recognizes that it must balance a multitude of existing and evolving OCS interests, so in launching the offshore renewable energy program, the bureau is committed to securing the involvement of all entities that hold these interests.

Frank, W.J. 2010. The role of the Minerals Management Service in offshore renewable energy development. Oceanography 23(2):60–67, https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2010.45.

This is an open access article made available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format as long as users cite the materials appropriately, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate the changes that were made to the original content. Images, animations, videos, or other third-party material used in articles are included in the Creative Commons license unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If the material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission directly from the license holder to reproduce the material.