The mission of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (AOGCC) is to protect the public interest in exploration and development of oil and gas resources, ensuring conservation practices, and increasing ultimate recovery, while protecting health, safety, the environment, and property rights. The Commission functions as the regulatory agency overseeing the underground operation of the Alaska oil industry on private and public lands and waters. Its responsibilities include regulating drilling and production of oil and gas to ensure that physical waste does not occur, protecting correlative rights of mineral interest owners, ensuring greater ultimate resource recovery and managing the Class II Underground Injection Control (UIC) program for oil and gas wells in Alaska as authorized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on June 19, 1986.