Critical minerals management on the federal seabed - ME Feature Article

The Marine Minerals Administration (MMA), a bureau within the U.S. Department of the Interior, has responsibility over both energy and nonenergy mineral development on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) under the OCS Lands Act (OCSLA). The OCS extends beyond the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and encompasses the federal seabed. These responsibilities include all aspects of the department’s offshore energy and mineral resource management and conservation, safety oversight, environmental enforcement and related activities on the OCS, including activities pertaining to offshore critical minerals. The MMA’s Marine Minerals Program (MMP) is a matrixed program that manages U.S. offshore mineral resources including hard minerals, sand and gravel. As the sole steward of OCS critical and hard minerals, the MMP is responsible for understanding where critical minerals are located, identifying and understanding their environments, managing activities that affect these resources and implementing related federal policies. Several federal laws and regulations, such as OCSLA and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), govern federally authorized or regulated activities. However, there are six U.S. federal rules in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) that are particularly pertinent to inform MMP’s procedures: 30 CFR 580 and 280 (prospecting for minerals), 30 CFR 581 (leasing of minerals), 30 CFR 582 and 282 (operations in the OCS related to minerals), and 30 CFR 583 (negotiated noncompetitive agreements for sand).