Outer Continental Shelf

The Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) is a legally defined geographic feature of the United States.

The exclusive economic zone of the United States extends 200 nautical miles (370 km; 230 mi) from the coast, and thus overlaps but is not coterminous with the Outer Continental Shelf.

Formally, the OCS is governed by Title 43, Chapter 29 "Submerged Lands", Subchapter III "Outer Continental Shelf Lands", of the U.S. Code which was created under the Outer Continental Shelf Act enacted by the 83rd United States Congress and signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953.

[1][2] The term "outer Continental Shelf" refers to all submerged land, its subsoil and seabed that belong to the United States and are lying seaward and outside the states' jurisdiction, the latter defined as the "lands beneath navigable waters" in Title 43, Chapter 29, Subchapter I, Section 1301.

BSEE is the agency charged to provide regulatory oversight of deepwater oil drilling and offshore wind energy sources in U.S. Federal waters that extend beyond State jurisdiction.