Today, learned some things about off-shore oil drilling

Gaston Drills an Off-Shore Oil Well

According to this article in US NEWS AND WORLD REPORT, here are SOME THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT OFF-SHORE OIL DRILLING:

• The first offshore drilling in the US took place in the late 1800′s off of piers near Santa Barbara, Calif.
• The first successful open-water drilling took place in 1938 in the Gulf of Mexico.
• The federal government controls the “outer continental shelf” (OCS) from between 3 and 200 nautical miles off the US coastline.  The coastal states control the OCS within the first 3 miles.
• The federal government signed the first oil/gas lease in 1954, located in the Gulf of Mexico.