TheCRE.com
CRE Homepage About The CRE Advisory Board Newsletter Search Links Representation Comments/Ideas
Data Access
Data Quality
Regulation by Litigation
Regulation by Appropriation
Special Projects
CRE Watch List
OMB Papers
Abstracts and Reviews
Regulatory Review
Voluntary Standards Program
CRE Report Card
Public Docket Preparation
Consumer Response Service
Site Search

Enter keyword(s) to search TheCre.com:

®: CRE Regulatory Action of the Week

President and Interior Announce Offshore Renewable Energy Plan
On Earth Day, April 22, 2009, President Obama and Department of the Interior Secretary Salazar announced a new framework for renewable energy production on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf .

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 granted the Interior Department's Minerals Management Service authority to regulate renewable energy development on the OCS. In addition to establishing a process for granting leases, easements, and rights-of-way for offshore renewable energy development, MMS' new program establishes methods for sharing revenues generated from OCS renewable energy projects with adjacent coastal States.

Interior and the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission cleared the way for the publication of these final rules by signing an agreement April 9, 2009. This agreement clarifies the two agencies' jurisdictional responsibilities for leasing and licensing renewable energy projects on the OCS. Under the agreement, MMS has exclusive jurisdiction with regard to the production, transportation, or transmission of energy from non-hydrokinetic renewable energy projects, including wind and solar. FERC will have exclusive jurisdiction to issue licenses for the construction and operation of hydrokinetic projects, including wave and current, but companies will be required to first obtain a lease through MMS.

  • Click here for Interior's OCS renewable energy site