1. INTRODUCTION 



1.1 THE NATURE OF DEVELOPMENT 



The process of recovering oil and gas from the Outer Continental Shelf 

 (OCS development) requires considerable industrial activity on land as well 

 as at sea. Giant offshore steel platforms must be constructed. Food, fuel, 

 and drilling supplies must be assembled and shipped to the offshore work 

 site, pipelines must come ashore at some point, and storage tanks and pumping 

 stations must be built. The workers from these enterprises need housing 

 and community facilities and services. Many, if not most of these actions, 

 may affect—directly and indirectly--fish and wildlife resources and their 

 habitats. 



Within limits, it is possible to forecast the effects of OCS-related 

 actions. A number of established techniques are available, and much of the 

 work may already have been done by planning agencies or industry. To 

 understand these forecasting processes and, especially, their inherent 

 limitations, consider the nature of the development process. 



Review of permit applications and other documents routinely submitted 

 to the Fish and Wildlife Service typically begins with consideration of the 

 activity proposed, then the likelihood of disturbances resulting from it, 

 and finally the effects to be expected from those disturbances. This 

 forecasting process can be shown as follows: 



ACTIVITIES DISTURBANCES EFFECTS 



(such as dredging (such as dis- (such as 



and filling) * charge of spoil) ^turbidity, 



sedimentation) 



Reviewing OCS development is likely to require additional analysis. The 

 development process can be characterized as a network of items, each flowing 

 from the preceding one. The network begins with "primary (or direct) 

 development": both offshore projects (such as exploratory drilling) and 

 onshore ones, such as the establishment of fabrication yards for OCS 

 platforms. Each of these major projects may require a number of component 

 subprojects .such as navigation improvements or site preparation. Each 

 subproject will result in activities , disturbances , and effects as shown 

 below. 



