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Copyright 1992 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
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Socioeconomics Panel
GARRY D. BREWER (Chairman),
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
CAMILLA AUGER,
Auger Associates, Inc., Washington, DC
GARDNER BROWN,
University of Washington, Seattle
BILIANA CICIN-SAIN,
University of Delaware, Newark
RALPH FAUST,
California Coastal Commission, San Francisco
ROBERT B. GRAMLING,
University of Southwestern Louisiana, Lafayette
RALPH W. JOHNSON,
University of Washington, Seattle
JAMES OPALUCH,
University of Rhode Island, Kingston
ROY A. RAPPAPORT,
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
CHARLES P. WOLF,
Social Impact Assessment Center, New York, NY
Parent Committee Liaison Members
CHARLES EDDY,
Los Angeles, CA
GUY R. MARTIN,
Perkins Coie, Washington, DC
Project Director
DAVID POLICANSKY
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 R. MARTIN,
Perkins Coie, Washington, DC
ARTHUR MAXWELL,
University of Texas, Austin
GUY R. MARTIN,
Perkins Coie, Washington, DC
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
KATE KELLY, Editor
SYLVIA TOGNETTI, Research Associate (through July 1992)
ANNE SPRAGUE, Information Specialist
HOLLY WELLS, Senior Project Assistant
Sponsor
U.S. Department of the Interior, Minerals Management Service
Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology
PAUL G. RISSER (Chair),
University of New Mexico, Albuquerque
FREDERICK R. ANDERSON,
Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, Washington, D.C.
JOHN C. BAILAR, III,
McGill University School of Medicine, Montreal
GARRY D. BREWER,
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
JOHN CAIRNS, JR.,
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg
EDWIN H. CLARK,
Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, State of Delaware, Dover
JOHN L. EMMERSON,
Lilly Research Laboratories, Greenfield, IN
ROBERT C. FORNEY,
Unionville, PA
ALFRED G. KNUDSON,
Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia
KAI N. LEE,
Williams College, Williamstown, MA
GENE E. LIKENS,
The New York Botanical Garden, Millbrook
JANE LUBCHENCO,
Oregon State University, Corvallis
DONALD R. MATTISON,
University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh
HAROLD A. MOONEY,
Stanford University, Stanford, CA
GORDON ORIANS,
University of Washington, Seattle
FRANK PARKER,
Vanderbilt University, Nashville
GEOFFREY PLACE,
Hilton Head, SC
MARGARET M. SEMINARIO,
AFL/CIO, Washington, D.C.
I. GLENN SIPES,
University of Arizona, Tucson
BAILUS WALKER, JR.,
University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City
WALTER J. WEBER, JR.,
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Staff
JAMES J. REISA, Director
DAVID J. POLICANSKY, Associate Director and Program Director for Natural Resources and Applied Ecology
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 Resources*
M. GORDON WOLMAN (Chair),
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore
PATRICK R. ATKINS,
Aluminum Company of America, Pittsburgh
PETER S. EAGLESON,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
EDWARD A. FRIEMAN,
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla
HELEN INGRAM,
University of Arizona, Tucson
W. BARCLAY KAMB,
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
GENE E. LIKENS,
New York Botanical Gardens, Millbrook
SYUKURO MANABE,
Geophysics Fluid Dynamics Lab, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Princeton
JACK E. OLIVER,
Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
FRANK L. PARKER,
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, and Clemson University, Anderson, SC
DUNCAN T. PATTEN,
Arizona State University, Tempe
RAYMOND A. PRICE,
Queen's University at Kingston, Canada
MAXINE L. SAVITZ,
Garrett Ceramic Components, Torrance, CA
LARRY L. SMARR,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
STEVEN M. STANLEY,
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore
WARREN WASHINGTON,
National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder
EDITH BROWN WEISS,
Georgetown University Law Center
IRVIN L. WHITE,
Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratories, Washington, DC
Staff
STEPHEN RATTIEN, Executive Director
STEPHEN D. PARKER, Associate Executive Director
JANICE E. MEHLER, Assistant Executive Director (through September 1992)
JEANETTE SPOON, Administrative Officer
CARLITA PERRY, Administrative Assistant
ROBIN L. LEWIS, Senior Project Assistant
* |
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 the 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 Socioeconomics Panel, investigated a full spectrum of social and economic aspects of the Environmental Studies Program (ESP). This report is the third of the three panel reports; the first two dealt with physical oceanographic and ecological aspects of the same Department of the Interior program. Companion reports by this committee dealt with leasing areas offshore of Florida, California, and New England.
A great deal has happened since 1986 when the OCS committee began its work. The Exxon Valdez ran aground and deposited some 240,000 barrels of Alaska crude in Prince William Sound. The Soviet Union collapsed. Iraq invaded Kuwait, and the United States and United Nations joined in Operation Desert Storm. Closer to home, President George Bush in June 1990 considered the evidence, including a report from this committee, and decided not to explore several offshore areas: parts of Florida, California, and Georges Bank all were placed off limits until the year 2000.
The Minerals Management Service has changed, too. Three directors have led MMS since our work began. The head of the ESP, Don Aurand, who originally sought the help of the NRC, also left for other challenges.
This report and all related efforts by the OCS Committee have been arduous. The Socioeconomics Panel found its task particularly difficult, largely because there was so small a base of relevant socioeconomics information to build on and because social and economic factors vary so much from one place to another and can change so quickly. These difficulties led the panel to recognize that one could not simply apply experiences gained from other studies of OCS impacts or even studies of other kinds of projects to any particular OCS region. Instead, the only useful course it could recommend was to use previous experiences to guide the development of a process for obtaining the needed information; the report outlines such a process in some detail. We recognize that this might be a disappointment to MMS, especially given the detailed recommendations provided by the Physical Oceanography and Ecology Panels. However, there does not appear to be a satisfactory alternative, despite the panel's prolonged and earnest efforts to find one. A credible, policy-relevant socioeconomics studies program cannot be built overnight from ready-made parts.
The difficulty of this report and of the other efforts of the OCS Committee is quite in keeping with the complexity, difficulty, and importance of the Offshore Oil and Gas Program for the United States. In its more than 20-year history, the ESP alone has expended more than $500 million to study the environmental, including socioeconomic, aspects of lease sales in OCS. This report concentrates
on the adequacy and applicability of the ESP's socioeconomic studies in meeting program goals during this period. It concludes with several recommendations the panel believes would improve performance in the socioeconomic realm and in the ESP.
During the course of its study, the panel visited coastal Louisiana; northern and southern California; and Anchorage, Dillingham, Aleknagik, Togiak, Cordova, and Valdez, Alaska. In those places, we received numerous briefings and had numerous discussions with many people, including private individuals; members of village, town, borough, and county governments; representatives of various commercial enterprises, including fishing, fish-processing, agriculture, and tourism; the oil industry, environmental organizations, and others; and federal and state agencies, including MMS. Others provided published documents and written information. We are enormously grateful to those who gave of their time and expertise; they taught the panel a great deal.
Naming all the people who helped the panel complete its task would be quite impossible, for they number in the hundreds. However, we would be remiss not to single out the extraordinary diligence, patience, and tact of David Policansky, the NRC staff program officer in charge of the OCS committee's work. He, and his immediate staff, Sylvia Tognetti and Holly Wells, have never wavered in the long road they and we of the Socioeconomics Panel have walked together.
We also wish to acknowledge the cooperation and helpfulness of MMS officials, the constructive comments of numerous anonymous reviewers, the technical assistance of those on the NRC's editorial staff, and the overall guidance of James Reisa, the director of the NRC Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology.
Garry D. Brewer
Chairman, Socioeconomics Panel