NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS
2101 Constitution Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20418
NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competencies and with regard for appropriate balance.
This report has been reviewed by a group other than the authors according to procedures approved by a Report Review Committee consisting of members of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine.
The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Frank Press is president of the National Academy of Sciences.
The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. Robert M. White is president of the National Academy of Engineering.
The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Kenneth I. Shine is president of the Institute of Medicine.
The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy's purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Frank Press and Dr. Robert M. White are chairman and vice chairman, respectively, of the National Research Council.
Support for this project was provided by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Contract No. 14-12-001-30342.
Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 89-63847
International Standard Book Number 0-309-04598-3
A limited number of copies of this report are available from the Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology, 2101 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20418
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Cover photo: Grant Heilman/Grant Heilman Photography
Printed in the United States of America
Ecology Panel
Judith McDowell Capuzzo (Chair),
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole
Edward J. Brown,
University of Alaska, Fairbanks
Donald G. Crosby,
University of California, Davis
Paul K. Dayton,
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla
Mark Fraker,
BP Exploration, Anchorage*
Eileen Hofmann,
Old Dominion University, Norfolk
George L. Hunt, Jr.,
University of California, Irvine
June Lindstedt-Siva,
Atlantic Richfield Company, Los Angeles
Ian Nisbet,
I.C.T. Nisbet & Co., Lincoln, MA
Robert T. Paine,
University of Washington, Seattle
Donald B. Siniff,
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
Michael P. Sissenwine,
National Marine Fisheries Service, Silver Spring, MD
Parent Committee Liaison Members
Vera Alexander,
University of Alaska, Fairbanks
Edward D. Goldberg,
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla
Charles Bruce Koons,
Exxon Production Research Company (retired), Houston
John J. Walsh,
University of South Florida, St. Petersburg
Project Director
David J. Policanksy
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* |
With Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Anchorage, since Summer 1991 |
Committee to Review the Outer Continental Shelf Environmental Studies Program
John W. Farrington (Chairman),
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole
Vera Alexander,
University of Alaska, Fairbanks
Garry D. Brewer,
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Judith McDowell Capuzzo,
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole
Charles Eddy,
Los Angeles
Edward D. Goldberg,
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla
Charles Bruce Koons,
Exxon Production Research Company (retired), Houston
Guy Martin,
Perkins Coie, Washington, DC
Arthur Maxwell,
University of Texas, Austin
James J. O'Brien,
Florida State University, Tallahassee
Maurice Rattray, Jr.,
University of Washington, Seattle
Howard A. Slack,
Port Ludlow, WA
John J. Walsh,
University of South Florida, St. Petersburg
Project Staff
David Policansky, Project Director
Norman Grossblatt, Editor
Sylvia Tognetti, Research Associate
Bernidean Williams, Information Specialist
Holly Wells, Senior Project Assistant
Sponsor
U.S. Department of the Interior, Minerals Management Service
Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology
Paul J. Risser (Chairman),
University of New Mexico, Albuquerque
Frederick R. Anderson,
Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, Washington, DC
John C. Bailar, III,
McGill University School of Medicine, Montreal
Lawrence W. Barnthouse,
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN
Garry D. Brewer,
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Edwin H. Clark, II,
State of Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, Dover
Yoram Cohen,
University of California, Los Angeles
John L. Emmerson,
Lilly Research Laboratories, Greenfield, IN
Robert L. Harness,
Monsanto Agricultural Company, St. Louis
Alfred G. Knudson,
Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia
Gene E. Likens,
The New York Botanical Garden, Millbrook
Paul J. Lioy,
UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway, NJ
Jane Lubchenco,
Oregon State University, Corvallis
Donald R. Mattison,
University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh
Gordon Orians,
University of Washington, Seattle
Nathaniel Reed,
Hobe Sound, FL
Margaret M. Seminario,
AFL/CIO, Washington, DC
I. Glenn Sipes,
University of Arizona, Tucson
Walter J. Weber, Jr.,
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
BEST Staff
James J. Reisa, Director
David J. Policansky, Associate Director and Program Director for Applied Ecology and Natural Resources
Richard D. Thomas, Associate Director and Program Director for Human Toxicology and Risk Assessment
Lee R. Paulson, Program Director for Information Systems and Statistics
Raymond A. Wassel, Program Director for Environmental Sciences and Engineering
Commission on Geosciences, Environment, and Resources1
M. Gordon Wolman (Chairman),
The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore
Robert C. Beardsley,
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole
B. Clark Burchfiel,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
Peter S. Eagleson,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
Helen M. Ingram,
Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy, Tucson
Gene E. Likens,
The New York Botanical Garden, Millbrook
Syukuro Manabe,
Geophysics Fluid Dynamics Lab, NOAA, Princeton
Jack E. Oliver,
Cornell University, Ithaca
Philip A. Palmer,
E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Newark, DE
Frank L. Parker,
Clemson University, Anderson, SC
Duncan T. Patten,
Arizona State University, Tempe
Maxine L. Savitz,
Allied Signal Aerospace, Torrance, CA
Larry L. Smarr,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign
Steven M. Stanley,
The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore
Sir Crispin Tickell,
Green College at the Radcliffe Observatory, Oxford, United Kingdom
Karl K. Turekian,
Yale University, New Haven
Irvin L. White,
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, Albany
Staff
Stephen Rattien, Executive Director
Stephen D. Parker, Associate Executive Director
Janice E. Mehler, Assistant Executive Director
Jeanette A. Spoon, Financial Officer
Carlita Perry, Administrative Assistant
Robin Lewis, Senior Project Assistant
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1 |
This study originally was undertaken under the auspices of the Commission on Physical Sciences, Mathematics, and Resources (see Appendix A). |
Preface
The review leading to this report was initiated in May 1986 by the National Research Council (NRC) at the request of the Minerals Management Service (MMS) of the U.S. Department of Interior. Under the auspices of the NRC Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology, the Committee to Review the Outer Continental Shelf Environmental Studies Program was formed to carry out the overall assignment. Three panels were established, one of which, the Ecology Panel, investigated the ecological aspects of the Environmental Studies Program (ESP). The ecology report is the second in the series of three reports.
It has been 13 years since a previous NRC review (OCS Oil and Gas: An Assessment of the Department of Interior Environmental Studies Program) recommended a change from the previous program of supporting descriptive baseline studies to one of carrying out studies that focus on the prediction of impacts from OCS operations and provide information more directly applicable to leasing and management decisions. To date, the ESP has expended approximately $500 million over its 18-year history for environmental studies applicable to lease sales covering most of the U.S. outer continental shelf. This NRC review has addressed the general state of knowledge of specific disciplines (ecology, physical oceanography, and socioeconomics), the adequacy and applicability of ESP studies in meeting program goals, and recommendations for future studies.
The Ecology Panel based its review on several sources, including presentations from ESP staff; briefings by other, independent scientists familiar with the work supported by the ESP; results of workshops on ecological studies held by the panel; and a review of relevant scientific literature and documentation of MMS's planning and implementation process leading to various lease sales. While this report was being prepared, the OCS committee and its panels prepared two reports on the adequacy of environmental information for OCS decisions in response to government requests. The first, requested by President George Bush, dealt with a lease sale off the coast of Florida and two off the coast of California and was published in 1989. The second, requested by MMS, focused on a north Atlantic sale and was published in 1991.
The Ecology Panel acknowledges the assistance and cooperation of the MMS staff, especially D. Aurand, C. Benner, R. Cohen, and W. Lang; the guidance and support of NRC staff, especially D. Policansky, S. Tognetti, E. Hobbie, and H. Wells; and the helpful comments
