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On August 8, 2005, President George Bush
signed the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (P.L. 109-58).
Sec. 388 – Alternative Energy-Related Uses on the Outer
Continental Shelf, of the Act grants the Bureau new authority to regulate
alternative energy uses on the Outer Continental Shelf
(OCS). Moreover, it directs the Secretary of the Interior,
in cooperation with the Secretary of Commerce, the
Commandant of the Coast Guard, and the Secretary of Defense,
to establish an OCS Mapping Initiative to assist in decision
making related to alternative energy uses on the OCS. The
goal of the initiative is the identification of OCS
locations of Federally-permitted activities; obstructions to
navigation; submerged cultural resources; undersea cables;
offshore aquaculture projects; and any area designated for
the purpose of safety, national security, environmental
protection, or conservation and management of living marine
resources.
Cadastral Data- the geographic extent of the
past, current, and future rights and interests in real
property including the spatial information necessary to
describe the geographic extent. Rights and interests
are the benefits or enjoyment in real properly that can be
conveyed, transferred, or otherwise allocated to another for
economic remuneration.
The result of this
directive is the Multipurpose Marine Cadastre - an
integrated submerged lands information system consisting of
legal, e.g., property ownership or cadastre, physical,
biological, and cultural information in a common reference
framework. It is an ambitious, multiyear endeavor that
involves joint planning, interaction, and commitment by
Federal, State, local, territorial, and tribal entities
working through public and private partnerships.
The Multipurpose Marine Cadastre allows
the Bureau
managers and technical staffs, at Federal agencies; coastal
States; local, territorial, and tribal governments; private
industry; and the academic community, to directly access
information and resources necessary to promote and conduct
good ocean governance.
Official data associated with the themes
identified below, come directly from the Agency of
Responsibility (AOR). All data within the Multipurpose
Marine Cadastre conforms to existing data standards and
contain supporting metadata. AORs will ensure that their
data are accurate and up-to-date.
The Multipurpose Marine Cadastre helps users
to address a number of questions. These include:
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What
types of rights exist in a marine context? |
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What laws
define those rights? |
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What is
the hierarchy of precedence among those rights? |
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How do
these various rights interact with one another? |
Potentially every appropriate law, boundary,
restriction, Army Corps of Engineers permit, or obstruction
e.g., pipeline, undersea cable, artificial reef, etc.,
located in the marine environment could interact with and
potentially impact the decisions managers make in fulfilling
their mission responsibilities.
The Multipurpose Marine Cadastre is an
ongoing project which will evolve over time to meet the
needs of as many potential users as possible within the
constraints of the available software and server technology.
Currently the MMC includes the following data
themes (most are downloadable from the
FGDC MBWG Data Portal):1
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Shoreline
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Submerged Lands Act
Boundary
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Limit of ‘8(g) Zone’
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Territorial Sea
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Contiguous Zone
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Exclusive Economic Zone
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Bureau of Ocean Energy Management,
Regulation and Enforcement Protraction
Diagrams and Leasing Maps |
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Outer Continental Shelf Lease Blocks
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Administrative Boundaries
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NOAA’s National Marine Sanctuaries
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NOAA’s Estuarine Research Reserves
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Coastal National Park Service Lands and
Waters |
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Coastal Fish and Wildlife Service National
Wildlife Refuges |
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Coastal National Forests
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Coastal Indian Lands
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Federal Legislative Boundaries
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Clean Water ActCoatal Zone Management Act
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Endangered Species Act
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Marine Mammal Protection Act
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Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation Act
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National Envionmental Policy Act
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Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act
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Submerged Lands Act
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Navigation and Marine Infrastructure
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Wells |
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LNG Sites
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Drilling Platforms
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Pipelines
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BOEMRE – Active Leases
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Ports |
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Shipping Lanes and Fairways
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Wrecks and Obstructions
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Military Danger Zones
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Coastal Antenna Structures
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Proposed Energy Projects
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Selected data sets as available
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Geology and Seafloor Data
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Selected Bathymetric Contours
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Sand & Gravel Borrow Areas
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Marine Habitat and Biodiversity
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Selected data sets as available or
appropriate |
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Base maps
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Shoreline
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Cities |
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Undersea features
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NOAA Raster Nautical Charts
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MGDS Global Multi-resolution Topography
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Other Data Themes as appropriate
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The
successful development, implementation, and maintenance of
the Multipurpose Marine Cadastre is contingent on our
ability and willingness to proactively approach and resolve
issues, to develop effective meaningful partnerships, to
share information, and maintain open communications.
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