Oil, gas, wind, waves and tides ... inside the OCS, we own all of these. The OCS, or Outer Continental Shelf, is defined in a recent Dept of Interior (DOI) report as:
1.7 billion acres of Federal jurisdiction lands submerged under the ocean seaward of State boundaries, generally beginning 3 geographical miles off the coastline (for most States) and extending for at least 200 nautical miles to the edge of the Exclusive Economic Zone.
Federal jurisdiction means states can't squabble over these resources. See this LA Times summary of some of the highlights here, and the full DOI executive summary here. Seems like if we wanted to, and if we could improve the grid to handle lots more wind power input, we'd be closer to becoming masters of our own energy destiny.
Energy security isn't a destination you can ever reach, but you can do things to move towards (or away from) it. Let's see if the still-new administration can help point our country in a more secure direction.
OCS Map: Wikimedia Commons
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