Benefits and Burdens of OCS Activities on States, Labor Market Areas, Coastal Counties, and Selected Communities

摘要

The Minerals Management Service (MMS) is the agency responsible for managing the mineral resources on the Federal OCS and is obligated under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) and the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, as amended in 1978 (OCSLA), to assess and monitor the effects of its sale of oil, gas, and mineral leases located on the outer continental shelf. The outer continental shelf (OCS) extends up to 200 miles off the coast of the U.S. It consists of over 2.75 million square miles, 7,300 active oil and gas leases, on 42 million acres (65,000 square miles) of submerged federally owned lands, and represents the most likely location of undiscovered oil and gas resources in the U.S. It is also the source of roughly one third (32%) of the oil produced in the U.S. (Texas produces 22%, Alaska 20%, and California 14%) a percentage that is rapidly growing (USDOE, EIA, 2004a). This study is one of several funded in response to intensification of sale-related activities in the Gulf of Mexico OCS in deeper waters. The study's purpose is to develop reliable and consistent information about past and potential future human effects of OCS development in support of the agency's lease sale and management decision-making process.