maintaining a higher frequency of sales in this region, the U.S. 

 Geological Survey (USGS) and the Bureau of Land Management 

 (BLM), with the cooperation of industry, are expediting the 

 following programs: identification and assessment of offshore 

 petroleum resource potentials for use in selecting promising oil and 

 gas areas for early leasing, including areas beyond the 200-meter 

 isobath; collection and evaluation of data concerning seafloor and 

 sub-seafloor hazards and associated environmental conditions in 

 the promising areas; planning and conducting lease sales and 

 allocations of pipeline rights-of-way, including preparation and 

 publication of environmental impact statements; and inspection of 

 industry plans and activities to assure maintenance of safe and 

 efficient operations following the lease sales. 



Because the number of remaining areas favorable for discovery of 

 oil beneath the Gulf are limited, the USGS is accelerating regional 

 studies of other parts of the U.S. continental shelves to identify and 

 outline promising areas for future petroleum exploration. During 

 FY'72 and FY'73, emphasis has been placed on assembling and 

 synthesizing existing information for the northern half of the shelf 

 along the Atlantic coast and for the shelf bordering the south coast of 

 Alaska. The promising areas identified in these studies serve as focal 

 points for subsequent detailed resource assessments and 

 environmental evaluations. 



To identify areas that have promising oil and gas potentials, USGS 

 utilizes proprietary data obtained from industry. Although 

 generally adequate for this purpose, the industry data must be 

 supplemented by other types of information, often gathered for other 

 purposes, to make decisions relating to resource development and to 

 assure safety and protection of the environment during subsequent 

 exploration, development, and exploitation of resources. 



Many agencies participate in the collection and analysis of data for 

 areas that appear to have promise and may be considered for future 

 lease sales. The plans of NOAA's National Ocean Survey for 

 hydrographic surveys include the northern half of the Atlantic 

 continental shelf and the shelf off southern Alaska. These provide 

 basic information on the configuration of the sea floor required for 

 studies of both resource and environmental data. The USGS has 

 accelerated systematic investigations of bottom and subbottom 

 conditions and resources at Georges Bank, an area of high petroleum 

 potential off New England. It expects to initiate similar 

 investigations of a second promising area on the Atlantic OCS off 

 Delaware during 1973. In these same areas, other organizations are 

 gathering information on oceanographic and weather conditions, on 

 fisheries resources, on recreational and transportation uses, and on a 

 variety of other subjects. BLM has begun assembling the information 

 supplied by various agencies and by State and private organiza- 

 tions in order to select specific areas for future leasing and to prepare 

 environmental impact statements for each. 



Along the Pacific and Alaskan coasts, the USGS, with the 



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