**REPORT TITLE:** Second Program Summary Report.

**STUDY TITLE:** Second Summary Report, Alaska Socioeconomic Studies
Program (TR-25).

CONTRACT NUMBER(S): BLM: CT6-61; MMS: 14-12-0001-29002

SPONSORING OCS REGION: Alaska.

APPLICABLE PLANNING AREA(S): Gulf of Alaska; Kodiak; Cook Inlet;
Shumagin; Aleutian Arc; North Aleutian Basin; St. George Basin; St.
Matthew Hall; Bowers Basin; Aleutian Basin; Navarin Basin; Norton Basin;
Hope Basin; Chukchi Sea; Beaufort Sea.

FISCAL YEAR(S) OF PROJECT FUNDING: 1977.

COMPLETION DATE OF REPORT: November 1979.

COST(S): FY 1977: \$64,864; CUMULATIVE PROJECT COST: \$64,864.

PROJECT MANAGER(S): R. Schmidt.

AFFILIATION: Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Company.

ADDRESS: 601 West 5th Avenue, Anchorage, Alaska 99501.

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR(S)\*: R. Schmidt.

KEY WORDS: Gulf of Alaska; Kodiak; Cook Inlet; Shumagin; Aleutian Arc;
North Aleutian Basin; St. George Basin; St. Matthew Hall; Bowers Basin;
Aleutian Basin; Navarin Basin; Norton Basin; Hope Basin; Chukchi Sea;
Beaufort Sea; Alaska; socioeconomics; economics and demographics;
transportation; commercial fishing; sociocultural; sociocultural change;
physical environment; Anchorage; scenarios; development scenarios;
impacts; data management; data deficiencies; Alaska Region.

ACCESS NUMBER: 29002

**BACKGROUND:** As part of a multi‑year research effort to predict and
evaluate effects of Alaska Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) petroleum
development upon physical, social, and economic environments within the
State, the Alaska OCS Socioeconomic Studies Program (SESP) was created
to provide information to improve OCS decision making at all
governmental levels. The SESP was administered through the U.S.
Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM; now the
Minerals Management Service). This summary report from 1979 summarized
managerial, methodological, and technical progress in the SESP,
emphasizing activities conducted during the 1977-1979 study period.

**OBJECTIVES:** (1) To provide an overview of SESP technical
methodology; (2) To explain the organization, relationship, and
limitations of the SESP; (3) To briefly summarize significant technical
content of completed and ongoing studies; and (4) To provide a brief
description of the continuing evolution of the SESP.

**DESCRIPTION:** Information in this report updated similar information
from two SESP management reports (i.e., First Annual Program Development
Plan; First Annual Report: Synthesis of Findings), both of which were
prepared during the first year of the program. Chapters herein
concerned: (1) Federal and State OCS information needs and their
influence on SESP; (2) SESP organization and present technical
methodology; (3) SESP work completed and underway; and (4) SESP future
work. Study areas discussed included the Beaufort Sea, northern and
western Gulf of Alaska, lower Cook Inlet, and the Bering‑Norton Sound
area.

**SIGNIFICANT CONCLUSIONS:** As a newly formed program to study
socioeconomic effects of Alaska OCS development, SESP management and
methodology was continually modified over the years to fulfill the needs
of BLM regarding pre‑lease decisions in Alaska. Improvements included
regional focusing on human activities in Alaska\'s unique coastal
communities and studying multiple‑use conflict areas (e.g., commercial
fishing, etc.) which could be affected by OCS development. Twenty‑five
core reports and twelve special studies were completed from various
Alaskan Planning Units, and another 17 reports were due by 1980. Future
SESP work aimed at more direct involvement by BLM and full management of
SESP by October 1979.

**STUDY RESULTS:** The role of the SESP in serving the Federal
government arose in 1974 when Alaskan OCS areas were included in the
Federal oil and gas leasing program in response to the national energy
situation created by the Arab Oil Embargo. Proposed planning units
divided the Alaskan OCS into fourteen areas, each to have at least one
sale. To guide petroleum development in these areas, the Federal
government published a five‑year schedule of proposed sales, with
initial sales being held in April 1976 in Gulf of Alaska, and in October
1977 in lower Cook Inlet areas.

BLM responsibilities in the OCS were defined in various directives
dating back to 1953, including the OCS Lands Act which established
federal jurisdiction over submerged lands of the continental shelf
seaward of States\' boundaries, 3 nmi seaward from the coast. Thus, BLM
became the administrative agency for leasing submerged Federal lands. To
aid in making pre‑lease decisions, BLM proposed the OCS Environmental
Assessment Program (OCSEAP) for the Alaska region as a means of
gathering biological and other marine ecosystem data. Later, the need
for coverage of social and economic concerns in Alaska became apparent.

In response to these social and economic data needs, BLM contracted with
the University of Alaska Sea Grant Program to develop an integrated
comprehensive program to study the socioeconomic effects of Alaska OCS
development. In 1975, this plan entitled \"Social and Economic Impact
Assessment of Alaska OCS Petroleum Development,\" became the basis for
establishing SESP.

The original concept of SESP was that of a broadly‑based research
program. Key program elements besides management involved comparative
studies, subsystems analysis and modeling, preparation of oil and gas
development scenarios, and impacts identification. After re‑evaluations,
studies were added concerning certain elements of human activities in
Alaska\'s unique coastal communities. Traditional and modern
socio‑cultural systems had to be investigated as well as man\'s linkage
to the natural physical environment through subsistence activities. SESP
was different from typical socioeconomic impact studies because of its
special treatment regarding human activities such as local Alaskan
traditions and lifestyles likely to be affected by OCS development.

Subsequently, BLM re‑examined OCS information needs generally and in
Alaska. Due to limitations within OCSEAP, BLM contracted with the
National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in mid‑1976 to review OCSEAP. NAS
recommended revisions which also affected SESP. A new focus was aimed at
regional plans involving studies of multiple‑use conflict areas (e.g.,
commercial fishing, recreation, social infrastructure, etc.). In
adopting the regional plan, BLM moved away from the original study plan
developed for SESP. Thus, the focus of SESP over the past two years
(i.e., 1977-1979) had narrowed to providing information principally for
environmental impact statements.

Descriptions of SESP focused on program management, core technical
studies, and special technical studies. Management responsibilities were
shared by BLM and PMM&C, as well as various subcontractors. All
technical work was conducted through subcontracts, but was coordinated
through the BLM Alaska OCS Office in Anchorage. Due to long‑distance
communication problems, the interdisciplinary team approach during the
first year was subsequently replaced by a multidisciplinary
prime‑subcontractor approach, thus changing BLM and PMM&C
responsibilities. Beginning with Phase V plans in October 1979, BLM was
to assume full management of SESP. Core studies, the principal focus of
SESP, were directed at a lease‑sale specific analysis of change induced
by OCS activities. Special studies included comparative analysis and
other special investigations that tended to be program‑wide in nature,
but could have been concentrated on a specific lease sale.

During the first three years of its operation, SESP produced numerous
investigations in various lease sale areas. Chapter IV identified those
completed and in progress, and listed availability of associated final
technical reports. Completed studies in Beaufort Sea Planning Unit
encompassed 15 core reports (1977 to 1978) and two special studies
(1978). For core studies in the other Planning Units, the record of work
completed and pending was as follows: (1) Gulf of Alaska had five
completed reports (1979) and two to be available by 1980; (2) Kodiak had
four completed reports (1979) and three to be available by 1980; (3)
Cook Inlet‑Shelikof Strait had one completed report (1979) and six to be
available by 1980; and (4) Norton Basin had no completed reports, but
had six reports to be available by 1980. Also provided was a listing of
10 other special studies (program‑wide, 1977 to 1979).

The future work of SESP concerned Phase V in 1979 (its fourth year of
operation), with BLM managing the full program on a day‑to‑day basis.
Planning unit studies were to be concentrated in western Alaska OCS
planning units, sequentially considering St. George Basin, northern
Aleutian Shelf, northern Navarin Basin, and Chukchi Sea. Studies were to
continue to examine statewide/regional economic and demographic systems,
transportation systems, commercial fishing activities, local
socioeconomic and sociocultural systems, natural physical environments,
and the city of Anchorage. Regarding scenarios, BLM was expected to
contract for petroleum‑related technological, environmental, development
cost, and marketing information, but wanted to prepare the scenarios
themselves after tracts had been selected. Thus, the most recent U.S.
Geological Survey data could be used and impacts analysis (by
contractors) in the final scenarios would be sale specific, allowing
SESP products to be more directly usable in preparing environmental
impact statements and other decision documents.

**STUDY PRODUCT(S):** Peat, Marwick, Mitchell, & Co. 1979. Second
Program Summary Report. A final report for the U.S. Department of the
Interior, Bureau of Land Management Alaska OCS Office, Anchorage, AK.
NTIS No. PB80-159825. Social and Economic Studies Program Technical
Report No. 25. Contract No. 14-12-0001-29002. x + 80 pp.

\*P.I.\'s affiliation may be different than that listed for Project
Manager(s).