Assessment of the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf Environmental Studies Program III. Social and Economic Studies (1992) / Chapter Skim
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Appendix C: The Evolution of the Federal OCS Program: National and Regional Perspectives
Appendix C: The Evolution of the Federal OCS Program: National and Regional Perspectives
Pages 107-142
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From page 107... ...
At the same time, the federal offshore oil and gas development program has been marked by extensive and recurrent intergovernmental controversy that has significantly influenced the course of the OCS program and, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, has in effect halted the expansion of the program. To understand the status of the OCS program, it is important to understand its historical context the evolution of the program since the 1940s, when the federal government first asserted a role in He development of the outer continental shelf.
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From page 108... ...
administrations, the patterns of public consumption of energy resources, and public attitudes toward He environment these conflicts have molded the nature, shape, and pace of the federal offshore oil program. To explore the forces that have affected the evolution of the federal OCS program, we begin wig a brief history.
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From page 109... ...
, including "the right and power to manage, lease, develop, and use" them. The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA)
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From page 110... ...
An immediate effect of the spill was Me postponement of additional lease sales in the Pacific region for five years; initial sales in the Atiantic and Alaska regions also were put Off Moreover, partly as a result of the spill, the 1970s were to see Me enactment of several major actions aimed at regulating and protecting the environment, particularly ocean and coastal resources. These actions significantly affected the operation of the OCS program.
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From page 111... ...
The plan called for the secretary of the interior to expand the OCS area offered to 10 million acres in 1975 (about triple what had been planned earlier) and to begin lease sales In all frontier areas.
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From page 112... ...
OCS development was divided into four stages: preparation of a five-year lease plan, lease sales, exploration, and development. Separate plans for exploration and development were required.
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From page 113... ...
The result of this political conflict has been for all practical purposes to close down the outer continental shelf of most of the continental United States for development. REGIONAL VARIATIONS In each of the regions where offshore oil development has either taken place or been proposed (Figs.
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From page 114... ...
Actual or potential illustrative effects are the intended or unintended consequences that are expected to or appear to have accompanied offshore oil development. We emphasize "illustrative effects" and "appear to have accompanied offshore oil development" because there are few systematic studies that have isolated, in a causal manner, the social, economic, acne political effects of OCS oil development.
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From page 115... ...
First, what did not happen in the Gulf was a slowdown of OCS activity in ache aftermath of the 1969 Santa Barbara of} spill. Lease sales in the Pacific were postponed for five years, as were initial sales in the Atlantic and Alaska.
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From page 117... ...
Perhaps the most significant historical factor lies wig the sequence of OCS development In Louisiana. Several points are important: First, OCS activity in the Gulf occurred as a gradual extension of land-based gas and of!
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From page 118... ...
In most of the coastal areas of the United States much of the population lives on or near the coast, and virtually all of the coast is accessible by road. In the central and western Gulf very little of the population lives on or near the coast, and with the exception of Galveston, Texas, there is lithe coastal access by road in the area of most intense OCS development, which stretched from Corpus Christi, Texas, to Mississippi.
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From page 119... ...
The communities most affected by the OCS boom were those such as Morgan City, which became a staging area for offshore activities, or Lafayette City, which became a managerial center. Although many parts of He communities were affected, some of the most evident effects occurred as a direct result of He population increases.
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From page 120... ...
The crash of world of} markets led to radically reduced OCS activity and to a recognition of the problems associated with extensive adaptation to an extractive activity. Because extractive enterprises such as OCS development must locate near the resource, they cannot necessarily take advantage of existing concentrations of labor, supplies, or other support, and often must develop these from scratch (Bunker, 1984~.
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From page 121... ...
Public Response There have been two consistent themes in Florida's communications with the Department of the Interior about OCS development. First, the state government has, through two governors Mob Graham and Bob Martinez)
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From page 122... ...
Alaska Nature and Extent of Development The outer continental shelf in Alaska comprises 74% of the total in the United States; it is 830~000 square miles of a national total of 1.12 million square miles. This predominance stems both
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From page 123... ...
The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that an undiscovered but recoverable 12.2 billion barrels of of} and 64.6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas lies beneath the outer continental shelf in Alaska.
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From page 124... ...
In the past decade, three Alaska governors, Hammond, Sheffield, and Cowper, have consistently raised objections to aspects of the Alaska region OCS oil- and gas-leasing program. The state government generally approves of the OCS program, but has voiced concerns over specific tracts of the lease sales and specific elements of He exploration and drilling plans.
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From page 125... ...
The question becomes what negative effects might accrue to the native population from their anticipation of the OCS lease sales. That portion of the native population that still depends on hunting and fishing for subsistence is particularly concerned because of fear that OCS development will harm wildlife habitat.
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From page 126... ...
If North Aleutian Sale 92 proceeds, the draft environmental impact statement predicts a modest to negligible effect on fisheries and marine mammals, but Me statement concedes that In some areas, such as Me area west of Port Moller, there could be major damage if a spill occurred. Pacific Region Development of California's offshore oil resources is long-standing, dating back to Me end of
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From page 127... ...
Since 1984, Congress has prevented the Department of the Interior from conducting any fiercer OCS lease sales through Be imposition of moratoria on department expenditures for these purposes. Alibis section is adapted from Cian~ain (1986~.
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From page 128... ...
Industrialization of the region and proliferation of support facilities was opposed by local officials and community groups, who feared that Be inevitable large increase in shoreside support facilities and services for offshore oil production would radically alter Me quality of life of Me area by industrializing the coastline.
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From page 129... ...
~. Second, in the 1990 reauthorization of the Clean Air Act, Congress mandated that "to control air pollution from Outer Continental Shelf sources" (excluding the Gulf Coast except Florida)
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From page 130... ...
In the early 198Os Santa Barbara County had little involvement or expertise In offshore oil development, but Me county government has since greatly built its oil-planning capacity. In addition, the county has displayed considerable ingenuity and aggressiveness and has pioneered such successful intergovernmental coordination as Me loins Review Panel, the vehicle used by representatives from local, state, and federal agencies to prepare the required state and federal environmental impact reports and environment imDactstatemen~ (~ptp~> {Alar~nn At ~1 14Q7~ Ache" 1C~Q7Hershman et al., 19v8~.
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From page 131... ...
The Santa Barbara case is an interesting example of Be coexistence of an attractive community and offshore oil development. The keys to this coexistence appear to be the phased nature of the development, the extensive permitting required for each project (numbering in the hundreds for each)
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From page 132... ...
Public reaction to proposed offshore oil development must be viewed in Me context of the northern California coast a beautiful, rugged, and sparsely populated coastline. Many of its residents have moved to the area precisely because of its beauty, ruggedness, and isolation.
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From page 133... ...
Oregon and Washington4 Nature and Extent of Development Several sedimentary basins are located on Oregon's and Washington's outer continental shelf that could contain commercially recoverable quantities of oil and gas. Federal lease sales were held in 1964 (MMS, 1989)
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From page 134... ...
development, President Bush accepted the recommendations of ache Outer Continental Shelf Leasing and Development Task Force (1990~. The president's decision affecting Oregon and Washington was to conduct a series of additional environmental studies of the effects of of} and gas development off Washington and Oregon, including the Sale 132 area, before any environmental impact statement would be completed.
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From page 135... ...
Public Response 135 After He oil embargo in the fall of 1973, President Nixon directed Be secrecy of the interior to increase the OCS acreage leased to 10 million acres beginning in 1975—~ Mount equal to all Me acreage leased since Me program began in 1953. "The basic objective of Me proposed action in OCS development was to increase domestic production as rapidly as possible and reduce dependence on expensive and unstable foreign supplies" (Committee on Commerce, 1975~.
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From page 136... ...
Although public and community response must count heavily In assessing the socioeconomic 0 r D impacts of Atlantic OCS region activities, there have been few socioeconomic studies undertaken by MMS or its predecessor, Me Bureau of Land Management. A critical review of Me adequacy of environmental information for Sale 96 was recently issued by Be National Research Council's Committee to Review Be Outer Continental Shelf Environmental Studies Program (NRC, 1990~.
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From page 137... ...
Today for all practical purposes the outer continental shelf of most of the continental United States is closed to development, and MMS- the agency whose primary goal is "orderly development of tile marine mineral resources" (MMS, 1987) finds its position in conflict with that of most of the coastal states.
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From page 138... ...
1986. Offshore Oil Development In California: Challenges to Governments and to the Public Interest.
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From page 139... ...
1984. The Role of Outer Continental Shelf Activities in the Growth and Modification of Louisiana's Coastal Zone.
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From page 140... ...
Pp. 2740 in The Role of Outer Continental Shelf Activities in the Growth and Modification of Louisiana's Coastal Zone, R
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From page 141... ...
Department of the Interior, Minerals Management Service Alaska Outer Continental Shelf Office, Anchorage, AK under Contract No.
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From page 142... ...
Pp. 72-90 in The Politics of Offshore Oil, J
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