The Submerged Lands Act of 1953 is a U.S. federal law that recognized the title of the
states to submerged navigable lands within their boundaries at the time they entered the Union. They include navigable waterways, such as
river
A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...
s, as well as marine waters within the state's boundaries, generally three
geographical miles (almost exactly ) from the coastline.
The Submerged Lands Act of 1953 was immediately followed by the
Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act. Under the latter, the Secretary of the Interior is responsible for the administration of mineral exploration and development of the Outer Continental Shelf (O.C.S.). The Secretary of the Interior is empowered to grant leases to the highest qualified responsible bidder and to formulate regulations as necessary to carry out the provisions of the Act. O.C.S.L.A. provides guidelines for implementing an
Outer Continental Shelf
The Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) is a legally defined geographic feature of the United States. The OCS is the part of the internationally recognized continental shelf of the United States which does not fall under the jurisdictions of the ind ...
oil and gas exploration and development program.
See also
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Offshore Constitutional Settlement
References
External links
Submerged Lands Actas amended
PDFdetails
in the GPObr>Statute Compilations collection
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1953 in American law
83rd United States Congress
United States federal public land legislation
United States federal legislation articles needing infoboxes
Equal footing doctrine
United States public land law
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