other regions. The study will include the examination of alternatives in 

 facilities siting to minimize adverse environmental impact, to reduce 

 costs, and to maximize economic benefits. The methodology, develop- 

 ment, and testing involves the following: Formulation of a set of 

 scenarios describing the likely range of types and volumes of oil and gas 

 that may be discovered on the New England OCS; development of 

 means to identify possible sites for major onshore supporting facilities 

 and to calculate expected environmental and socio-economic impacts; 

 and the conduct of case studies, in cooperation with State institutions, to 

 assess the usefulness of the methodology in different political and physi- 

 cal settings. 



BLM has supported extensive research on the social and economic 

 aspects of OCS development. These projects have been designed to 

 cover the most promising areas for development, including the North. 

 Mid and South Atlantic regions, the Gulf of Mexico, southern California, 

 and Alaska. In addition, BLM provided partial support for a study of the 

 potential economic impact in New England of oil development in the 

 Georges Bank petroleum basin. 



In addition to its responsibility for OCS development. DOI. through 

 the Office of Energy and Minerals Section, is exploring prospects for 

 deep-sea mineral development. Two grants have been awarded to study 

 specific aspects of these potential resources. One study is an analysis of 

 the economic and structural characteristics of the deep-ocean mining in- 

 dustry. The goal is to recommend appropriate domestic and interna- 

 tional regulatory and management approaches for mineral resource 

 development. The other project is a technological and economic assess- 

 ment of the mining and metallurgical technologies that may be used in 

 deep-sea manganese nodule operations. 



COASTAL AND INTERNATIONAL OCEAN LAW 



Much legal research sponsored by Sea Grant is geared to providing 

 the kinds of analysis needed to enhance the coastal zone management 

 efforts of the States. An example of the work supported by this program 

 is a project by the University of Miami School of Law to analyze contem- 

 porary issues in coastal law. using Florida as an example of how a 

 specific State deals with coastal zone problems. 



In other work, University of Mississippi investigators are looking at a 

 number of issues of particular concern to the Gulf Coast region. This 

 effort attempts to develop an acceptable definition of the coastal zone, 

 design a plan to control oil transported through the coastal zone, and 

 devise a system for compensating parties suffering economic damage 

 from pollution resulting from these activities. The university is also in- 

 volved in selecting sites for deep-water ports and nuclear powerplants 

 and an analysis of the Mississippi Coastal Wetland Act; it has recently 



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