Bureau of Ocean Energy Management BOEM

The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act of 1953 gave the federal government control of the seabed beyond state waters, usually three nautical miles from shore, and authorized Interior to lease it for development. For decades the Minerals Management Service handled leasing, safety inspection, and royalty collection together. After the Deepwater Horizon disaster in April 2010 exposed conflicts among those roles, Interior split the agency, and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management began operating on October 1, 2011.

BOEM manages energy and mineral development on roughly 3.2 billion acres of the outer continental shelf. It prepares the five-year national program that schedules offshore oil and gas lease sales, conducts the sales, and reviews exploration and development plans, while the separate Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement inspects operations and the Office of Natural Resources Revenue collects royalties. Since 2009 it has also leased areas for offshore wind farms, chiefly off the Atlantic coast.

Offshore leasing swings sharply with each administration. In 2025 the President withdrew offshore areas from new wind leasing and Interior issued stop-work orders on wind projects already under construction, some of which courts later paused, while the 2025 budget reconciliation law required a series of oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf. Supporters said the changes favored reliable domestic energy, while critics, including several coastal states, said they jeopardized investment and clean energy goals.