As the demand for OCS sand increases, sand management issues have become more complex, such as resource allocation, cumulative impacts from repeated use, fisheries conflicts, protection of oil and gas infrastructure and archaeological sites, essential fish habitat issues, etc. BOEMRE identified the need to formulate options and recommendations for including Federal, State, and local governments in an overall planning process to manage the Federal offshore borrow sites in an environmentally responsible and cost-effective manner over the long term.

The BOEMRE-sponsored study, Regional Management Strategies for Federal Offshore Borrow Areas, U.S. East and Gulf of Mexico Coasts (94.98 KB PDF) (Michel 2004) recommended the formation of Sand Management Working Groups (SMWG) that would be charged with planning, coordinating, information dissemination, and facilitating the use of OCS sand for beach nourishment and coastal restoration projects. BOEMRE is continuing to evaluate the feasibility of this approach in Louisiana and Florida where there is an immediate and growing demand for extremely large volumes of sand and the environmental protection and restoration needs are critical. Important objectives of the BOEMRE program are the demonstrated cost savings and value added benefits that can be achieved through regional management.

The State of Louisiana is embarking on a massive effort to rebuild and restore the coastal barrier islands situated along its shoreline. These barrier islands act to dampen wave energy and tidal surge during tropical storms that erode the islands as well as back-barrier wetlands and coastal lowlands. The barrier island systems are eroding at alarming rates and are projected to effectively disappear by 2012 without intervention or mitigation.

Geological and geophysical studies conducted in Federal waters offshore Louisiana indicate there are numerous sand deposits which may serve as source material to restore and replenish the barrier islands. As the demand for sand in OCS waters is likely to be high the next several years, BOEMRE, together with the State of Louisiana, has moved forward and formed the Louisiana Sand Management Working Group (LA-SMWG) in order to formalize an environmentally responsible process for assisting the BOEMRE in planning and decision-making for the use of Federal sand for beach nourishment, coastal restoration, and wetlands protection projects along the Louisiana coast.

In 2008, BOEMRE recognized the need to address the Mid/South Atlantic Region concerning OCS sand and the Negotiated Noncompetitive Agreement process. It was determined the best avenue to disseminate information concerning the program was through Regional Sand Management Working Group. Interested federal, state and local government stakeholders were invited to the NOAA Coastal Services Center in Charleston, SC for a one day meeting. Meeting discussion ranged from the BOEMRE Negotiated Noncompetitive Agreement Process, introducing the Hard Minerals Subcommittee, and a summary of the Army Corps of Engineers process concerning beach nourishment. Overall, the meeting was successful and participants were willing to continue the working group and developing possible methods of communication between stakeholders.