5. REGIONAL INFORMATION AND ANALYSIS 



Numerous studies have been prepared to aid regional, state, and 

 local decisionmakers, planners, private organizations, and citizens 

 in understanding and preparing for the likelihood of petroleum and 

 gas development on Georges Bank. Although each study has taken a 

 somewhat different approach in assessing the impact of potential de- 

 velopment, all of the studies deal with the environmental or socio- 

 economic effects of development, and in many cases, both. Summaries 

 of the major reports, or relevant sections, have been organized ac- 

 cordingly. 



The first important examination of the ecological and economic 

 effects of oil and gas development was The Georges Bank Petroleum 

 Study , prepared by the Offshore Oil Task Group of the Massachusetts 

 Institute of Technology. The New England Regional Commission decided 

 in 1972 that such a study was necessary, and the final report was pub- 

 lished in February 1973. 



This was followed, in April 1974, by the Council on Environmental 

 Quality's PCS Oil and Gas: A Report to the President . Leasing ac- 

 tivities on the Atlantic shelf were suspended by Present Nixon in 1972 

 until the environmental assessment was prepared. The report covered 

 onshore areas along the entire Atlantic coast, including an inventory 

 of the New England area and an analysis of Bristol County, MA, in detail 



Two reports on the potential economic effects of petroleum de- 

 velopment in New England were published in 1975. Offshore Petroleum 

 and New England , by Thomas Grigalunas, was supported by Sea Grant 

 funds and published by the University of Rhode Island. A second 



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