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Definition
and Information OCS Reports: MMS
forms an Accident Investigation Panel for incidents that are major in nature and normally
involve fatalities, serious injuries, substantial property, or a particularly large
pollution event. The investigative report contains information damaged on the circumstances
surrounding the accident, the root cause or causes of the accident, and recommendations to
prevent a recurrence of such an incident. When complete, the report is assigned an OCS
Report number. GOM OCS Investigation Reports prepared since 1992 are available online,
and GOM reports prepared between 1984-1991 are available through the MMS Gulf
of Mexico OCS Region Public Information Unit (Call 1-800-200-GULF).
NRC Reports: The primary
function of the National Response
Center is to serve as the sole national point of contact for reporting all
oil, chemical, radiological, biological, and etiological discharges into the environment
anywhere in the United States and its territories. NRC Reports are generally available online for spills which have occurred
since 1990. NRC reports contain information available at the time of notification and do
not reflect corrections in spill volume or other information collected after the time NRC
was notified.
State Jurisdiction
is defined as follows:
- Texas and the Gulf coast of Florida are extended 3 marine leagues (9 nautical miles)
seaward from the baseline from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured.
- Louisiana is extended 3 imperial nautical miles (imperial nautical mile = 6080.2 feet)
seaward of the baseline from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured.
- All other States' seaward limits are extended 3 nautical
miles (approximately 3.3 statute miles) seaward of the baseline from which the breadth of
the territorial sea is measured.
Federal
Jurisdiction is defined under accepted principles of international
law. The seaward limit is defined as the farthest of 200 nautical miles seaward of the
baseline from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured or, if the continental
shelf can be shown to exceed 200 nautical miles, a distance not greater than a line 100
nautical miles from the 2,500-meter isobath or a line 350 nautical miles from the
baseline.
Outer Continental Shelf limits greater than 200 nautical
miles but less than either the 2,500 meter isobath plus 100 nautical miles or 350 nautical
miles are defined by a line 60 nautical miles seaward of the foot of the continental slope
or by a line seaward of the foot of the continental slope connecting points where the
sediment thickness divided by the distance to the foot of the slope equals 0.01, whichever
is farthest.
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