Early Assessment of Interior's Area-Wide Program for Leasing Offshore Lands
RCED-85-66
Published: Jul 15, 1985. Publicly Released: Jul 26, 1985.
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Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the impact of recent areawide sales for leasing offshore lands, including the Department of the Interior's: (1) new bid-acceptance procedures for ensuring that it receives fair market value for leased offshore lands; and (2) streamlined presale planning process for providing states and others affected by offshore activities an opportunity to participate in the process.
Recommendations
Matter for Congressional Consideration
| Matter | Status | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Congress should consider whether a need exists for requiring Interior to annually assess and report on the cumulative effects of the offshore program on the human, marine, and coastal environment. | It is not known if Congress will act on this recommendation. |
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of the Interior | The Secretary of the Interior should consider the effects on competition and bid revenues in relation to the anticipated benefits and report the findings to Congress. |
The Minerals Management Service (MMS) has made the recommended comparison, which was reported to Congress in appendix P of the proposed 5-year Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program.
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| Department of the Interior | In order to become a knowledgeable seller and have increased assurance that the high bids represent fair market value, the Secretary of the Interior should, in those cases where it has good or excellent supporting data to estimate tract values, use its independent estimates of tract value for assessing the adequacy of high bids. |
MMS has no plans to implement this recommendation. The MMS position is that current procedures ensure that high bids represent fair market value and that changes are not needed.
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Topics
Bid evaluationEnergy suppliesEvaluation criteriaLand leasesMarine mineral resources developmentOffshore oil resourcesOil leasesReal property acquisitionNatural gasExploration