population. Each stage of oil development requires some more housing, offices, 

 stores, banks, hotels, restaurants, basic public services (such as roads, 

 airports, schools, utilities, police) and all the other facilities that the 

 employees and their families will need. Many communities are hard put to 

 expand such services and facilities, especially since local tax revenues 

 always lag behind the heavy public investments that accompany development. 

 Also, OCS taxes go to the Federal government, not to state or local units 

 and thus come down through loans and other activities that are a reflection 

 of national rather than regional priorities. 



As noted earlier, the job market for local residents does not necessarily 

 grow apace with development, because of the specialized labor needed for 

 oil technology. It may even deteriorate, if the traditional economy of the 

 area is adversely affected by oil growth -- farm land may be taken out of 

 production; commercial fishing may be impaired; beach recreation and resort 

 business may diminish; or labor, lured to higher oil wages, may be priced 

 out of reach of traditional enterprises. 

 6.2 PUBLIC INTEREST AND COMMUNITY ANTICIPATION 



As stated earlier in this section, the interests of local residents in 

 the Mid Atlantic and South Atlantic regions clearly state the two key policy 

 stands, that is, one for development of offshore oil and all the economic 

 benefits which will accompany such activity and the other, that of going 

 slowly—developing oil and gas after all the socio economic impacts have been 

 clarified and the environmental planning issues resolved (33). 



For the South Atlantic region, the proponents of offshore oil development 

 have in their favor the basic economic facts: the area lies far behind the 

 United States in per capita income, job opportunities are few, the area 



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