in preparation for the North Atlantic lease sale. According to a re- 

 port published recently in the Oil and Gas Journal , most of the firms 

 that have applied for exploration permits in the Mid Atlantic also 

 plan to operate out of these facilities. 5 



However, other communities in New England, particularly in Mass- 

 achusetts and New Hampshire, have sought to lease waterfront space and 

 provide services to the oil industry during this early phase. Figure 2 

 shows the location of areas that hope to benefit from OCS activity. New 

 Hampshire's Governor has promoted its Portsmouth Naval facilities. Mass- 

 achusetts and individual towns and cities have identified facilities in 

 the Boston area, including the Boston Charleston Navy Yard, East Boston, 

 South Boston Fish Pier, and the South Boston Naval Annex, in addition to 

 the waterfront areas of New Bedford and Fall River. 



2.5 Major Issues 



The possibility of offshore oil exploration off the New England 

 coast has attracted the attention of environmental groups, the scientific 

 community, and the recreation and fishing industries. Their major con- 

 cern is the effect of OCS exploration and development on the offshore and 

 coastal environments. 



Since the blow-out of a Union Oil platform in the Santa Barbara, 

 California channel in 1969 and the Torrey Canyon Spill off England, en- 

 vironmentalists have been concerned about offshore oil development in 

 general. The series of tanker spills off New England this past year 

 and the blow-out in the North Sea this past spring have heightened 

 this concern. It should be noted, however, that only 1 percent of the 

 petroleum in the marine environment is produced by offshore petroleum 



11 



