1998 Year of the Ocean Ocean Energy and Minerals 



Although there are no commercial sand and gravel mining operations seaward of the 3- 

 mile federal-state line, on the U.S. outer continental shelf, there have been a number of such 

 operations in rivers, bays, and harbors over the years. One company currently produces 

 construction aggregate from deepening and maintaining the Ambrose Chaimel across New York 

 Bay, and the State of New York has prepared an Environmental Impact Statement addressing 

 sand mining in other parts of the bay. The same company is seeking leases to dredge sand and 

 gravel in federal waters off the northern New Jersey coast, an indication that economic 

 conditions are favorable for a commercial operation in the New York-New Jersey area. 



Sand from offshore deposits has been used for beach renourishment since 1922, when 

 Coney Island Beach in New York City was rebuilt. Since then, hundreds of millions of cubic 

 yards of marine sand have been placed on U.S. beaches. The offshore sand used for beach 

 renourishment projects is generally from deposits within state waters but occasionally it comes 

 from the federal OCS as far as 8 miles from the coast. Project sizes range from hundreds of 

 thousands of cubic yards to 15-20 million cubic yards. To support publicly beneficial projects, a 

 1994 amendment to the OCS Lands Act (P.L. 103-426) authorized a negotiated agreement 

 process in lieu of competitive bidding for govenimental use of OCS sand, gravel, or shell. The 

 amendment authorized fees to be assessed for use of these resources based on their value and the 

 public interest served from their development. Each request to use OCS resources under a 

 negotiated agreement is handled individually. To assist government agencies needing OCS 

 resources, MMS developed procedures and guidelines to explain the National Environmental 

 Policy Act and OCS Lands Act requirements, and the development of terms and conditions for 

 removal of the resource. The MMS guidelines on assessing fees outlines the approach that will 

 be used to determine appropriate fees that balance resource value with other public benefits for 

 governmental shore protection and restoration projects. 



To date, two coastal communities have obtained federal OCS sand through this new 

 process, and several more negotiated agreements are in progress. Completed projects using 

 federal sand include Duval County, Florida, where 1 .2 million cubic yards of sand were placed 

 on a 10-mile stretch of shoreline, and the U.S. Navy's Fleet Combat Training Center at Dam 

 Neck, Virginia, where 900,000 cubic yards were placed on the beach to protect the facility. New 

 projects are being planned with the City of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, for Surfside Beach; 

 the State of Louisiana for restoration of the Isles Dernieres and Timbalier Island (two of the most 

 rapidly eroding sections of the nation's coast); the National Park Service for the northern end of 

 the Assateague Island National Seashore in Maryland; and the City of Virginia Beach, Virginia, 

 for Sandbridge Beach. 



Development of Other Minerals 



While offshore development of other hard minerals currently is not a significant activity 

 in U.S. waters, active offshore mining of minerals other than sand and gravel worldwide include 

 diamond recovery off the southwestern coast of Africa, tin offshore of Indonesia, and titanium 

 offshore of western Australia. Diamond mining offshore Africa began in 1961 and has become a 

 major contributor to the diamond market. Several companies, including the diamond giant De 



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