Public comment closes on Outer Continental Shelf plans
The public comment window for federal plans along the Outer Continental Shelf is closing, according to a report by Mackenzie Olivo of Underscore Native News, distributed by the Associated Press.
Since March 2025, Congress has rescinded reporting requirements for development proposals on the Outer Continental Shelf, the report said. Native cultural artifacts and sacred sites may be affected as a result, and developers are no longer required to conduct archaeological surveys for proposed projects along the 3.2 billion acres of marine territory.
The U.S. Department of the Interior is exploring the potential for space launch and recovery infrastructure on the Outer Continental Shelf, according to the report.
Katrina Thompson-Upton, of the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation and co-founder of the Northwest American Indian Coalition, said the change “feels very sad and violating.” Her traditional lands run along the coast of Northern California, an area she said would be impacted by development of the Outer Continental Shelf.
Thompson-Upton said the region holds older cultural places that extend far offshore. “We did not glacier here, so we were not under ice,” she said. “There’s a lot of older places in our area, and that extends well out into what is now underwater on the coast on the shelf out there.”