Louisiana Law Review Volume 40 | Number 1 Fall 1979 The Outer Continential Shelf Lands Act Amendments of 1978: Balancing Energy Needs with Environmental Concerns? Gordon L. James Repository Citation Gordon L. James, The Outer Continential Shelf Lands Act Amendments of 1978: Balancing Energy Needs with Environmental Concerns?, 40 La. L. Rev. (1979) Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.lsu.edu/lalrev/vol40/iss1/9 This Comment is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Reviews and Journals at LSU Law Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Louisiana Law Review by an authorized editor of LSU Law Digital Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF LANDS ACT AMENDMENTS OF 1978: BALANCING ENERGY NEEDS WITH ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS? The continental shelf' of the United States is a vast, relatively untapped storehouse of natural resources, the most valuable of which are oil and gas." The energy potential of this area, if realized, could bring the United States much closer to energy self-sufficiency' and its attendant benefits.' However, the shelf and surrounding coastal environment is important for a variety of other commercial, ecological and aesthetic reasons.5 Development and production of off- 1. The continental shelf is the relatively shallow extension of the continental land masses which stretches outward from the shore gradually to an average depth of 660 feet. At its edge the seabed takes a steep decline, known as the continental slope. The gentler gradient which marks the merger of the slope with the deep seabed is the continental rise.