The MMS is an Agency within the United States Department of the Interior. The mission of the MMS is to manage the mineral resources on the Nation’s Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) in an environmentally sound and safe manner and to collect, verify, and distribute, in a timely fashion, mineral revenues generated from Federal (onshore and offshore) and Native American lands.

To carry out that mission, MMS manages two very important programs -- the Offshore Minerals Management Program and the Minerals Revenue Management Program.

MMS programs provide major economic and energy benefits to the Nation, taxpayers, States, and the Native American community -- benefits that have both national and local significance.

To better understand what MMS does and why it is important, it is necessary to put the responsibilities of the agency into a broader context. As you may know, the Federal Government owns a vast amount of land -- both onshore and offshore -- and these lands are managed for various purposes, including mineral production. Federal offshore lands are known as OCS lands and are located outside State coastal waters. Generally speaking, OCS lands begin about 3 geographical miles offshore coastal States, except in the case of Texas and the west coast of Florida, where OCS lands begin 3 marine leagues (or approximately 10.3 miles) offshore.

A myriad of laws has been enacted that govern leasing, development, and production on Federal lands used for mineral production. The Offshore Minerals Management Program is responsible for determining which areas of the OCS should be made available for oil and gas activities, for assuring that oil and gas rights are granted only in exchange for the fair market value of those rights, and for assuring that those rights are pursued in an environmentally sound manner under safe conditions. This includes regulating development activities to protect the coastal and marine environment and ensuring that when operations are completed, the site is properly abandoned. Among similar regulatory agencies around the world, MMS is somewhat unusual in that it regulates all aspects of offshore oil and gas activities, rather than just the economic, or the environmental, or the safety aspects of these activities. The OMM Program also works with Federal, State, and local government agencies to manage the appropriate use of OCS sand and gravel resources. The Minerals Revenue Management Program ensures that all monies derived from mineral leasing and production activities on Federal and Native American lands are collected, properly accounted for, and distributed.

MMS collects, accounts for, and last year disbursed about $6 to $10 billion in revenues from Federal offshore mineral leases and from onshore mineral leases on Federal and Native American lands.

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Last Updated: 10/22/2007, 01:41:58 PM