Addressing Misrepresentations and Unfair Resource Allocation: A Letter to Senator O'Mahoney Regarding National Oil Resources and the Submerged Lands Controversy, 1951-09-07

Item — Box: 3, Folder: 30

Identifier: CAC_CC_004_1_3_30_0013

Staff Only

Addressing Misrepresentations and Unfair Resource Allocation: A Letter to Senator O'Mahoney Regarding National Oil Resources and the Submerged Lands Controversy, 1951-09-07

The Solicitor General wrote a letter to Senator O'Mahoney addressing inaccuracies in a pamphlet distributed by the National Association of Attorneys General regarding the ownership of submerged lands in the sea. The pamphlet falsely claims that each state owns valuable submerged lands within its boundaries, and that the title to these lands has been held by individual states rather than the federal government. The Solicitor General refutes these claims and argues that the proposed bill would enrich three states at the expense of the other 45 states by granting them a significant portion of revenue from offshore oil and gas deposits.