OCR Text |
Show Administration It is recognized that the areas of the Outer Continental Shelf, the surface and subsurface of the seabed, the water column above it, and the air above the water, are subject to a variety of uses and controls by different agencies of the United States. The Commission was astounded, in fact, to find that currently 10 major departments and agencies, ranging from the Corps of Engineers to Interior's Fish and Wildlife Service, have jurisdiction or responsibility for various activities on the Outer Continental Shelf or the super-adjacent waters and air space. Within these departments and agencies, jurisdiction and responsibility is further fragmented. In practice, this has meant that lease contracts have not always contained all the terms and con- Resources of the Continental Shelf already have contributed nearly three billion dollars to the National Treasury. ditions which the lessees have eventually had to meet. At the time of the Santa Barbara oil lease sale, for example, the leases in some areas did not contain certain "hold harmless" and "evacuation" clauses which had been recommended by the Department of Defense because of its activities at Vandenberg Air Force Base. However, the Department of Defense eventually succeeded in imposing the conditions through the permits that the lessees had to secure from the Corps of Engineers to erect their drilling platforms.11 11 The Corps of Engineers, charged by the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act with preventing obstruction to navigation of artificial structures on the Shelf, issues drilling platform permits. 43 U.S.C. § 1333f (1964). Similarly, certain conditions can be added to drilling permits by other 190 Since a lessee can complain that the contract given him by the leasing agency did not allow for certain conditions that were later imposed upon him by other agencies, a continuation of present practices could be harmful. The orderly development of leased areas could be affected if lessees surrendered their leases rather than assume the additional costs. More importantly, there is a danger under the present system of fragmented jurisdiction that some resource values might not be adequately protected due to lack of coordination within the bureaucracy. We do not believe that there is any sound reason to perpetuate divided administration. Quite the contrary, recent history indicates that it is essential that responsibility and authority for administration be consolidated not only for the benefit of the public, represented by the government, but also in fairness to those operating on the Shelf. We recognize that national security considerations may necessitate placing some responsibility in the Secretary of Defense. If so, we recommend that a more formal cooperative understanding be arrived at between the leasing agency and the Department of Defense so that, to the extent possible, conditions required by national security be contained in the lease sale notice and the lease. In the interim, during the period before this recommendation to centralize administration in one place is implemented, we believe that some remedial steps should be taken administratively. We recommend, to the extent that more than one department continues to have functions on the Outer Continental Shelf, consolidation within each department should be accomplished to the maximum extent feasible. Protection and Enhancement of the Environment Recommendation 73: Protection of the environment from adverse effects of activities on the Federal Outer Continental Shelf is a matter of national concern and is a responsibility of the Federal Government. The Commission's recommendations concerning improved protection and enhancement of the environment generally require separate recognition in connection with activities on the Shelf, and agencies having resource management responsibility on the Shelf should be required by statute to review practices periodically and consider recommendations from all interested sources, including the Council on Environmental Quality. In addition, there must be a continuing statutory liability upon lessees for the cleanup of oil spills occasioned from drilling or agencies like the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Geological Survey. |