FOR RELEASE: May 17, 1995                   CONTACT:  Lee Scurry
                                                   (202) 208-3983 
                                                   Barney Congdon
                                                   (504) 736-2595

                     MMS PROVIDES ACCESS TO OCS SAND 
                      FOR FLORIDA BEACH NOURISHMENT

     The U.S. Department of the Interior's Minerals Management
Service (MMS) and the City of Jacksonville, Florida completed the
first negotiated agreement under a new law that offers states and
localities noncompetitive access to federal offshore sand for
certain projects of public benefit, MMS officials announced
today.

     Through a negotiated lease agreement, MMS will provide the
city of Jacksonville access to 1.24 million cubic yards of sand
on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) approximately seven miles
off the coast of Duval County.  The sand will be used to 
renourish Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach and Jacksonville Beach
this year.

     This is the first such completed lease agreement under an
October 1994 amendment to the OCS Lands Act, which provides the
Secretary of the Interior the authority to negotiate agreements
for use of sand, gravel and shell resources located on federal
offshore lands for projects of public benefit.  The law allows
the Department to enter into a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with
other federal agencies involved in such projects and negotiate a
noncompetitive lease with the appropriate state or local
government agency.   MMS previously signed an MOA with the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers to promote interagency cooperation on
this Florida project.

     "The negotiated agreement approach under the new law is a
significant and beneficial addition to existing procedures that
require a competitive bidding process to obtain a lease for
mineral resources on the OCS," said MMS Director Cynthia
Quarterman. "The competitive bidding requirement was cumbersome,
not responsive to the needs of the states, and discouraged state
interest in OCS sand for important public works projects.

     "Although the law provides for assessing fees for the OCS
sand resource, MMS waived the fee in the interest of equity and
fairness," she said.  "The Jacksonville project is in the third
phase of renourishment that dates back to the 1970s.  For that
reason, the project was deemed a special case.
                    
     "In keeping with MMS' overall stewardship responsibilities
and our obligation to protect the environment, the agreement also
calls for a study at the site to determine how quickly marine
organisms recolonize the area after dredging," said Quarterman. 
"The study will add substantial information to broaden our
knowledge of marine ecosystems.  Already, a series of
environmental studies are underway to assure that sand dredging
is conducted in a sound manner."

     Louisiana, New Jersey, South Carolina and Virginia have also
expressed interest in the negotiated agreement process.

     MMS is the federal agency that manages the nation's natural
gas, oil and other mineral resources on the OCS, and collects and
disburses about $4 billion yearly in revenues from offshore
federal mineral leases and from onshore mineral leases on federal
and Indian lands.

                                  --MMS--