Alternative energy: Fuel sources that are other than those derived from fossil fuels. Typically used interchangeably for renewable energy. Examples include: wind, solar, biomass, wave and tidal energy.

British thermal unit (BTU): The amount of heat required to increase the temperature of a pound of water 1o Fahrenheit. A Btu is used as a common measure of heating value for different fuels. Prices of different fuels and their units of measure (dollars per barrel of crude, dollars per ton of coal, cents per gallon of gasoline, cents per thousand cubic feet of natural gas) can be easily compared when expressed as dollars and cents per million BTUs.

Coastal state: A state bordering on the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean, or the Gulf of Mexico.

Coastal Zone Management Act Consistency Determination: Means a finding that an activity that affects land or water uses or natural resources in a state’s coastal zone is in compliance or not in compliance with that state’s Federally-approved Coastal Zone Management Act Program.

Crude Oil: A mixture of hydrocarbons naturally existing as a liquid in underground reservoirs that remains a liquid at atmospheric pressure. Crude oil is the raw material which is refined into gasoline, heating oil, jet fuel, propane, petrochemicals, plastics, pharmaceuticals, and other products.

Domestic: Produced in or indigenous to a particular country: domestic oil; domestic wine.

Easement: Authorization for the use, for a specified purpose, of land that is not owned by the user. For the OCS, a right of use and easement usually refers to the authorization by MMS to an operator for the construction and maintenance of structure on OCS Lands not subject to a lease granted to the operator.

Energy Policy Act of 2005: A bill passed by the 109th Congress in August 2005 that includes new authority (Section 388) for MMS to regulate alternate energy resources on the outer continental shelf (OCS).

Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ): An area contiguous to the territorial sea of the United States, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. overseas territories and possessions and extending 200 nautical miles from the coastline.

Energy: The capacity for doing work as measured by the capability of doing work (potential energy) or the conversion of this capability to motion (kinetic energy). Energy has several forms, some of which are easily convertible and can be changed to another form useful for work. Electrical energy is usually measured in kilowatt hours, while heat energy is usually measured in British thermal units (Btu).

Fee: A fixed sum charged, as by an institution or by law, for a privilege

Hydrocarbon: Any compound or mix of compounds, solid, liquid or gas, comprised of carbon and hydrogen (e.g., coal, crude oil, and natural gas).

Kilowatt: A unit of power equal to 1,000 watts.

Lease: A legal document executed between a landowner, as lessor, and a company or individual (as lessee) that conveys the right to exploit the premises for minerals or other products for a specified period of time over a given area.

Megawatt: a unit of power equal to one million watts

Moratorium: Delay, a period during which certain proceedings or obligations are suspended.

Multiple-use: Land management for more than one purpose, such as wood production, water, wildlife, recreation, forage, aesthetics, or clean air

Natural resources: A material source of wealth, such as timber, fresh water, or a mineral deposit, that occurs in a natural state and has economic value.

Nonrenewable fuels: Fuels that cannot be easily made or "renewed," such as oil, natural gas, coal and nuclear.

Outer Continental Shelf (OCS): The part of the continental shelf beyond the line that marks State ownership; that part of the offshore lands under Federal jurisdiction.

Photovoltaic: Comes from the words photo (meaning light) and volt, a measurement of electricity.

Public notice: Notification by a government entity informing the public of actions such as the issuance of a draft permit or scheduling of a hearing.

Recoverable reserves: The proportion of hydrocarbons that can be recovered from a reservoir using existing techniques.

Renewable energy: Energy resources that are naturally replenishing but flow-limited. They are virtually inexhaustible in duration but limited in the amount of energy that is available per unit of time. Renewable energy resources include: biomass, hydro, geothermal, solar, wind, ocean thermal, wave action, and tidal action. (EIA Glossary)

Revenue: Income from whatever source derived; that which returns or comes back from an investment.

Right-of-way: In property law, an easement to use another’s land for passage. For the OCS a Right-of-way is most commonly used for pipelines that cross lands that the operator does not control entirely by lease.

Royalty: A share of the minerals produced from a lease; a percentage of production either in money or in kind which a lessee is required to pay.

Seabed: the bottom of a sea or ocean

Surety bond: A bond issued by one party, the surety, guaranteeing that he or she will perform certain acts promised by another or pay a stipulated sum, up to the bond limit, in lieu of performance, should principal fail to perform.

Stakeholder: One who has a share or an interest. MMS stakeholders include citizens, public interest groups, local and state governments and industry groups. Territorial sea: The territorial sea of the United States is a maritime zone extending beyond the land territory and internal waters of the United States over which the United States exercises sovereignty and jurisdiction, a sovereignty and jurisdiction that extend to the airspace over the territorial sea, as well as to its bed and subsoil.

Watt: A metric unit of power, usually used in electric measurements, which gives the rate at which work is done or energy used.