lease sale. That is, the first step is generally a call for 

 nominations. Next, baseline environmental studies are initia- 

 ted in frontier areas such as MA FLA , tracts are announced, 

 draft environmental statements are made, public hearings held, 

 final environmental statements made, and the sale held. The 

 time involved can range from 15 to 40 months , averaging 19 months 

 with some overlapping steps. The entire production process from 

 pre-lease studies through production is presented in Figure 2.3. 



2.3 -- NEW ONSHORE FACILITIES— OFFSHORE OIL PORTS 



The central Gulf Coast, particularly Louisiana, has an 

 extensive infrastructure of onshore support facilities. Since 

 production has already peaked, it is expected that any new 

 finds will serve to maintain existing levels of production 

 rather than to increase production. It is expected that the 

 existing onshore support facilities along the Louisiana and 

 Texas coastal areas will be utilized for OCS activity result- 

 ing from future lease sales (USDI, 1976a: 111-65; USDI , 

 1976b: 60). New facilities would have been necessary in the 

 MAFLA and South Texas areas if significant finds had been 

 discovered there. However, since no significant finds have 

 been found in these areas and most exploration and development 

 activity is again concentrated in the central Gulf, no major 

 new onshore support facilities are anticipated. 



However, onshore facilities are expected to be built to 

 accommodate LOOP and Seadock, the proposed supertanker terminals 

 off the coast of Louisiana and Texas for imported crude oil. 

 As can be seen in Figure 2.4, LOOP will be located 19 miles 



69 



