ORS 196.410 Legislative findings for offshore oil and gas leasing
The Legislative Assembly finds:
Oregon’s territorial sea encompasses all the rocks and islands of the Oregon National Wildlife Refuge, borders all beaches, headlands and rocky intertidal areas and includes areas heavily used for commercial and recreational fishing. Navigation lanes for barges and vessels pass through the area.
Oregon’s territorial sea is rich in marine life. Its renewable resources support significant portions of the coastal economy. It is a dynamic, hazardous marine environment within which oil spills cannot be contained.
Oregon’s nearshore zone is extremely high in biological productivity, reflected by the variety and value of commercial and sport ocean fisheries catch. The Oregon coast provides a significant habitat for migrating seabirds and mammals. Oregon is unwilling to risk damaging sensitive marine environments or to sacrifice environmental quality to develop offshore oil and gas resources. [1989 c.895 §4] 196.415 Legislative findings for ocean resources management. The Legislative Assembly finds that:
The Pacific Ocean and its many resources are of environmental, economic, aesthetic, recreational, social and historic importance to the people of this state.
Exploration, development and production of ocean resources likely to result from both federal agency programs in federal waters of the outer continental shelf and initiatives of private companies within state waters will increase the chance of conflicting demands on ocean resources for food, energy and minerals, as well as waste disposal and assimilation, and may jeopardize ocean resources and values of importance to this state.
The fluid, dynamic nature of the ocean and the migration of many of its living resources beyond state boundaries extend the ocean management interests of this state beyond the three geographic mile territorial sea currently managed by the state pursuant to the federal Submerged Lands Act.
Existing federal laws, the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972, the Coastal Zone Act Reauthorization Amendments of 1990, the Magnuson Fisheries Management and Conservation Act of 1976, as amended, and the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act of 1978, recognize the interests of coastal states in management of ocean resources in federal waters and provide for state participation in ocean resources management decisions. The Coastal Zone Act Reauthorization Amendments of 1990 require that all federal coastal activities affecting natural resources, land uses and water uses in the coastal zone must be consistent with the federally approved Oregon Coastal Management Program.
The 1983 Proclamation of the 200-mile United States Exclusive Economic Zone has created an opportunity for all coastal states to more fully exercise and assert their responsibilities pertaining to the protection, conservation and development of ocean resources under United States jurisdiction.
It is important that the State of Oregon develop and maintain a program of ocean resources management to promote management of living and nonliving marine resources within state jurisdiction, to insure effective participation in federal agency planning and management of ocean resources
and uses which may affect this state, and to coordinate state agency management of ocean resources with local government management of coastal shorelands and resources.
While much is known about the ocean, its composition, characteristics and resources, additional study and research is required to gain information and understanding necessary for sound ocean planning and management.
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2023 Oregon Revised Statutes
Official online edition
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Version history
Prior statutory text is not available in the ingested published editions. Consult an earlier official ORS edition or the cited Oregon Laws chapter.
2025 Oregon Revised Statutes — official online source · active · operative text
Official source2023 Oregon Revised Statutes · active · operative text
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