Atlantic coastline in support of OCS oil and gas activities, it is worth- 

 while to examine socio-economic impacts which occurred in Scotland during 

 the development of the North Sea oil fields. 



As the oil industry moved into picturesque towns such as Aberdeen, 

 Dundee, Inverness and Edinburgh, so did a wide spectrum of support companies 

 and service organizations (29). Housing for the influx of new workers was 

 a major problem, one made worse by a severe inflation in land prices. Housing 

 construction lagged because local construction workers went to work for the 

 new oil-related industries. Jobs in many other needed services also went 

 unfilled because of the housing shortage. Contrary to general expectations, 

 not all local residents benefited from the job boom, because many of the jobs 

 had to be filled by employees imported for their specialized skills. 



Local price inflation made it harder for residents who did not join the 

 oil rush to make ends meet. Public schools became overcrowded. Scarce 

 arable land was lost to industry and housing. More air and water pollution 

 accompanied the increase in population and industry (29, p. 28). 



The conclusions of the study Onshore Planning for Offshore Oil (29) are 

 that the rapid growth impacts can be more easily absorbed in urban areas with 

 a diversity of business and industry. But some of the onshore locations re- 

 quired for oil activities, such as new platform construction yards, are more 

 rural in character because of the large land requirement. Despite the impacts 

 some of the cities and fishing towns have faced, even greater changes must 

 be anticipated in such rural areas as the Shetland Islands, or in our case, 

 Northampton County, Virginia. A local economy will be affected not only by 

 the investment and employment of the oil industry itself but also by the 

 many private businesses needed to support the new industry and spiral ing 



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