Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act

The Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) is a legally defined geographic feature of the United States, encompassing submerged lands, their subsoil and seabed, lying seaward and outside state jurisdictions. The OCS is governed by the Outer Continental Shelf Act of 1953, which defined the OCS as all submerged lands under US jurisdiction, seaward of state coastal waters. The US OCS is divided into four leasing regions, and federal jurisdiction extends from the outer limit of state jurisdiction to the international limit of the US' claims on seabed rights. The seaward limit of the OCS is defined as the farthest of 200 nautical miles from the baseline of the territorial sea or, if the continental shelf exceeds 200 nautical miles, a distance not greater than a line 100 nautical miles from the 2,500-meter isobath or a line 350 nautical miles from the baseline.learn more on wikipedia