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Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Publications

The mission of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is to manage development of U.S. Outer Continental Shelf energy and mineral resources in an environmentally and economically responsible way. The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act of 1953 authorizes Federal leasing and management of submerged lands for energy development. These responsibilities evolved in the US Department of the Interior (USDOI), initially within the Bureau of Land Management and the US Geologic Survey Conservation Division, then with the creation of the USDOI’s Minerals Management Service in 1982, and now with BOEM.

Browse Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Publications


BOEM Environmental Studies

The Environmental Studies Program (ESP), mandated by the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act in 1978, (43 USC 1346) develops, funds, and manages scientific research of the highest degree of scientific integrity to inform Agency decisions. Since its inception in 1973, the ESP has provided over $1 billion for research pertinent to energy development impacts on coastal, marine, and human ecosystems in BOEM’s four OCS regions: Alaska, Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and Pacific. The ESP funds research on air quality, fates and effects, habitat and ecology, information management, marine archaeology, marine mammals, physical oceanography, social science, and more.


Geographic Scope