Cite as: 521 U. S. 1 (1997)
Opinion of the Court
not merely define a boundary that encloses a body of navigable water. Rather, in describing a boundary following the ocean side of offshore islands and reefs, the Order created a Reserve that necessarily embraced certain submerged lands—specifically, tidelands shoreward of the barrier islands.1 Second, Montana and Utah Div. of State Lands establish that the purpose of a conveyance or reservation is a critical factor in determining federal intent. See also Alaska Pacific Fisheries v. United States, 248 U. S. 78, 87-89 (1918) (reservation of "body of lands" in southeastern Alaska for Metlakahtla Indians included adjacent waters and submerged lands, because fishing was necessary for Indians' subsistence). The Executive Order of 1923 sought to retain federal ownership of land containing oil deposits. The Order recited that "there are large seepages of petroleum along the Arctic Coast of Alaska and conditions favorable to the occurrence of valuable petroleum fields on the Arctic Coast," and described the goal of securing a supply of oil for the Navy as "at all times a matter of national concern." Petroleum resources exist in subsurface formations necessarily extending beneath submerged lands and uplands. The purpose of reserving in federal ownership all oil and gas deposits within the Reserve's boundaries would have been undermined if those deposits underlying lagoons and other tidally influenced waters had been excluded. It is simply
1 In light of the fact that the Order necessarily encompasses tidelands, the partial dissent's conclusion that the United States owns no submerged lands within the Reserve is puzzling. The dissent suggests that the United States retains submerged lands only if the relevant instrument " 'in terms embraces the land under the waters.' " Post, at 66 (Thomas, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part) (quoting Packer v. Bird, 137 U. S. 661, 672 (1891)). By its terms, the Executive Order of 1923 certainly embraces all tidelands landward of the barrier islands. Accordingly, even if the dissent were correct that a federal intent to retain submerged lands can never be inferred, no inference is required for the conclusion that, at the very least, the United States retained the tidelands within the Reserve.
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