Rhode Island 



Rhode Island is very interested in attracting OCS-related facili- 

 ties to the state. The Governor's office and the Department of Economic 

 Development have encouraged oil companies and service companies to lo- 

 cate in surplus military lands, particularly the Quonset Naval Air 

 Station and the Davisville Construction Battalion Center. In fact, 

 the governor successfully attracted to Davisville, RI the service com- 

 pany for the vessel that drilled the COST hole. The Rhode Island dele- 

 gation to the May 1975 Offshore Technology Conference in Houston was 

 also successful in calling the industry's attention to the Quonset/ 

 Davisville facilities. 



The state has been actively planning for the advent of offshore 

 oil activities. In the spring of 1975, the state legislature estab- 

 lished a special legislative commission to study the effects of off- 

 shore oil development on Rhode Island. In June 1975, the governor es- 

 tablished an OCS Technical Task Force, which submitted a report in 

 December of 1975 outlining possible directions of Georges Bank petro- 

 leum development and planning strategies for the state. They recom- 

 mended a functional plan be developed for the use of state resources 

 and that an effort be made to educate public officials and private 

 citizens about offshore development. In September of 1976, the state 

 held a three-day workshop on the technical and planning aspects of 

 offshore oil development. The state has since completed a study of 

 the Quonset/Davisville facility utilizing federal planning funds. 

 The study included land use plans, an environmental impact assessment 

 and socio-economic analysis. In addition, the Coastal Resources 



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