U.S. Territory Question

[preach4bass]

How far off the coast of NC (or any coastal state) does U.S. territory extend?

[Catt]

The Submerged Lands Act (SLA) of 1953 grants individual States rights to the natural resources of submerged lands from the coastline to no more than 3 nautical miles (5.6 km) into the Atlantic, Pacific, the Arctic Oceans, and the Gulf of Mexico. The only exceptions are Texas and the west coast of Florida, where State jurisdiction extends from the coastline to no more than 3 marine leagues (16.2 km) into the Gulf of Mexico.

[frogtog]

Whats the 200 mile deal? I remember something about 200 miles. 8-)

[Catt]

Federal

Actually when you start talking federal it gets real complicated and can extend as far as they want  

[Raul]

The 200 nautical miles is the nation 's territorial waters, but that range does not extend to the state 's territorial waters, like Catt mentioned, usually the state jurisdiction is in most cases 3 miles from shore.

This has implications in the economic resources a state can claim, for ex, if an oil/gas company drills within 3 miles from the shore then taxes are collected from the state in which the well is located, if the oil company drills 3+ miles from the shore it 's the federal government who gets those taxes and the state only gets a portion of them through the federal budget asigned to that state in particular.