grounds, distribution of commercial species, known spawning grounds, 

 benthos, sediments, and currents, as well as the areas of greatest 

 interest to the petroleum industry. All of this data was presented 

 according to the tracts established by the Bureau of Land Management. 

 The second volume of the study printed in March 1977 contains a • 

 discussion of the possible characteristics of Georges Bank petroleum 

 development and its impact on the expanding New England fishing 

 industry. To assess the environmental impacts of offshore oil develop- 

 ment, the study analyzed data from the National Marine Fisheries Service 

 Groundfish Survey and assessed the effects of petroleum discharges on 

 the Georges Bank environment. 



A recent report which has proved useful is Estimates for New 

 England , prepared by the New England River Basins Commission for the 

 Department of Interior's Resources and Land Investigations Program. 

 Like the Arthur D. Little Report, this document calculates a range of 

 petroleum finds and assesses the effluents of possible related facili- 

 ties including service bases, platform fabrication yards, platform in- 

 stallation, pipelines and landfalls, pipe coating yards, gas process- 

 ing plants, and refineries. Detailed information for specific 

 facilities is presented for the high-find scenario of 2.4 billion bis. 

 of oil, and 12.5 Tcf gas, and medium-find scenario of .9 billion bis. of 

 oil and 4.2 Tcf. 



The environmental assessment of Quonset/Davisville, Rhode Island 

 prepared by the Coastal Resources Center at the University of Rhode 

 Island developed and applied a methodology for determining impacts 



45 



