The NewsRoom
Release #:  3135
Date: September 15, 2004

The Minerals Management Service and the State of Massachusetts are conducting a field survey today that will provide a complete and scientifically accurate accounting of features for establishing federal/state offshore boundary.

A number of features offshore the State of Massachusetts potentially affect the determination of the United States National Baseline. The accurate description of these features and the effect they may have on certain statutory boundaries requires additional research.

The project team consists of qualified representatives from the MMS’s Mapping and Boundary Branch and representatives from the Massachusetts Highway Department, the State Geologist.

The analysis of the extensive data collected in the field survey will take about one month. MMS and Massachusetts officials will release the research results as soon as they are available.

The Minerals Management Service is the federal agency in the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages the nation's oil, natural gas, and other mineral resources on the federal outer continental shelf. The agency also collects, accounts for, and disburses mineral revenues from federal and American Indian leases. MMS disbursed more than $8 billion in fiscal year 2003 and more than $135 billion since the agency was created in 1982. Nearly $1 billion from those revenues go into the Land and Water Conservation Fund annually for the acquisition and development of state and federal park and recreation lands.

Relevant Web Sites:
   MMS Main Website

Media Contacts:
Nicolette Nye
Curtis Carey
(202) 208-3985

MMS: Securing Ocean Energy & Economic Value for America
U.S. Department of the Interior