Cite as: 503 U. S. 569 (1992)
Opinion of the Court
require a waiver of rights to submerged lands. The State requested that the Minerals Management Service delete from the proposed lease sale the approximately 730 acres in dispute from the Nome project.
The United States then sought leave of this Court to commence this action, which we granted on April 1, 1991. 499 U. S. 946. The two parties entered into an agreement pursuant to § 7 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), 43 U. S. C. § 1336, and Alaska Stat. Ann. § 38.05.137 (1989), to direct revenues from the disputed acreage into an escrow account that would then be paid to the prevailing party.4 The United States and Alaska both filed motions for summary judgment, which we now consider.
II
Our principles for evaluating agency interpretations of congressional statutes are by now well settled. Generally, when reviewing an agency's construction of a statute administered by that agency, we first determine "whether Congress has directly spoken to the precise question at issue." Chevron U. S. A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U. S. 837, 842 (1984). Should the statute be silent or ambiguous on the direct question posed, we must then decide whether the "agency's answer is based on a permissible construction of the statute." Id., at 843. In applying these principles, we examine in turn the language of § 10 of the RHA, the decisions of this Court interpreting it, and the longstanding construction of the Corps in fulfilling Congress' mandate.
4 Although the bidding period closed without receipt of any bids, both sides agree that a live controversy exists in light of their continuing disagreement as to the location of the federal-state boundary and the prospect of future lease sales in the area. We agree that the controversy is not moot, since it involves a continuing controversy about territorial sovereignty over these submerged lands. United States v. Alaska, 422 U. S. 184, 186 (1975).
575
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