15 



2.1.2 



MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE PLANNING 



FOR NORTHERN GULF OF MEXICO ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES: 



THE GULF OF MEXICO OCS REGIONAL OFFICE PERSPECTIVE 



Dr. Richard E. Defcnbaugh 



Chief, Environmental Studies Section 



Minerals Management Service 



Gulf of Mexico OCS Region 



The "Northern Gulf of Mexico Environmental Studies Planning Workshop" is being held to provide a forum for 

 discussion to support planning for three studies (see below) which have been approved by the Minerals 

 Management Service (MMS) for substantial multi-year funding. The purpose of this presentation is to provide 

 administrative direction to the workshop discussions. 



The studies discussed, their study areas, and the general focus (as originally conceived) of each study arc: 



Texas-Louisiana Shelf Marine Ecosystems Program - an ecological characterization study, including both 

 descriptive and processes components to complement currently available information; to be conducted 

 on the TEXLA Shelf. 



• Long-Term Monitoring at Marine Ecosystem Sites - a program to study natural variability over the long- 

 term at representative non-impacted sites; to be conducted at selected sites Gulf-wide. 



Effects of OCS Development and Production Activities - a program to study the chronic and cumulative 

 impacts of OCS oil and gas activities at selected industry sites, with particular emphasis on sites of 

 petroleum development and throughout the Gulf where a history of OCS petroleum development exists 

 (primarily on the TEXLA Shelf, but also on the Mississippi-Alabama Shelf). 



Workshop participants have been invited to represent many perspectives, but the academic perspective was 

 purposely emphasized. No bounds will be placed on workshop technical discussions, although certain 

 procurement management decisions and MMS policies are outside the scope of the workshop. MMS recognizes 

 that the nature of these studies, and even the number of projects to be awarded, must be reconsidered following 

 completion of the workshop. 



The planning bases to be considered by MMS for these studies will include several components: a list of 

 potential study elements, focusing on topics of interest or concern to MMS; study methods to accomplish the 

 various study elements; study priorities or study sequences, to provide a scheduling base; and an understanding 

 of how study results will have management utility. The objective of the workshop is to develop, through open 

 discussion, these planning bases. 



MMS' mission involves leasing, permitting, and regulating exploration, development, and production of petroleum 

 and non-energy minerals on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), and funds research which supports this mission. 

 The MMS Environmental Studies Program was initiated in 1973 by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) 

 to support OCS leasing and lease-management decisions. In 1981-2, OCS-mission components of the U.S. 

 Geological Survey and of the BLM were merged to form the MMS. Since 1973, the BLM/MMS has awarded 

 more than $72.4 million for studies to support the OCS program in the Gulf of Mexico (Table 1). To date, these 

 studies have emphasized descriptive characterizations of marine ecosystems, physical oceanographic studies, and 

 studies of the ecological effects of oil and gas activities. 



