Full Title: Five-Year Program for Federal Offshore Oil and Gas Leasing: Status and Issues in Brief
Author(s): Laura B. Comay
Publisher(s): Congressional Research Service
Publication Date: January 1, 2017
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
Under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), as amended,1 the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) must prepare and maintain forward-looking five-year plans—referred to by BOEM as five-year programs—for proposed public oil and gas lease sales on the U.S. outer continental shelf (OCS). On January 17, 2017, former Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell issued a record of decision approving BOEM’s final program for the period from mid-2017 through mid-2022.2 The leasing decisions in BOEM’s five-year programs may affect the economy and environment of individual coastal states and of the nation as a whole. Accordingly, Congress has typically been actively involved in the planning process for the fiveyear programs. The following discussion briefly summarizes the status of the 2017-2022 program, discusses selected issues of congressional interest, and considers the role of Congress in shaping the program. The history, legal and economic framework, and process for developing the program are discussed in CRS Report R44504, The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s FiveYear Program for Offshore Oil and Gas Leasing: History and Final Program for 2017-2022.