ACCESS NUMBER: 16705

STUDY TITLE: 1999 Minerals Management Service Social and Economic Studies Conference.

REPORT TITLE: Report on the 1999 Minerals Management Service Social and Economic

Studies Conference.

CONTRACT NUMBER(S): 16075

SPONSORING OCS REGION: Environmental Studies Program Headquarters

APPLICABLE PLANNING AREA(S): All

FISCAL YEAR(S) OF PROJECT FUNDING: 1999

COMPLETION DATE OF REPORT: March 2000

COST(S): FY 1999: $99,729; CUMULATIVE PROJECT COST: $99,729

PROJECT MANAGER(S): Niel Tashima

AFFILIATION: LTG Associates, Inc.

ADDRESS: 6930 Carroll Ave., Suite 410, Takoma Park, Maryland, 20912

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR(S)*: Michael French Smith

KEY WORDS: socioeconomic studies; Alaska; Pacific; Gulf of Mexico; baseline; impact

assessment; mitigation; moratoria; monitoring; key indicators; traditional knowledge; participation;

industry restructuring; communities; data; methods; Geographic Information Systems;

synthesizing; cross-disciplinary research; decommissioning; perceptions; risk; recreation; tourism.

BACKGROUND: Both the Outer Continental Shelf Land Act as amended in 1978 and the

National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 direct the Minerals Management Service (MMS) to

study the human and non-human environment of OCS oil and gas development and to provide

the MMS and State and local governments with information needed to ensure that OCS activities

are conducted in an environmentally safe and appropriate manner. Within the MMS, the

Environmental Studies Program (ESP) bears this responsibility. The social and economic effects

of OCS activity often are the most immediately apparent and long lasting. According to the ESP's

National Strategic Plan for 1998-2002, its socioeconomic research effort has nearly tripled in

recent years in order to meet this challenge.

OBJECTIVES: To bring a variety of perspectives (including those of MMS personnel, academic

social scientists and MMS research contractors) to bear on past and ongoing MMS

socioeconomic studies and identify the issues most in need of attention.

DESCRIPTION: More than sixty social scientists and MMS personnel attended the conference in

Park City, Utah from August24 through August 26, 1999. The first day of the conference was

devoted to presentations describing the socioeconomic studies effort in each of three OCS

regions (Alaska, Pacific and Gulf of Mexico) and presentations by non-agency social scientists on

theoretical and applied research issues relevant to MMS socioeconomic studies. On the second

day, conference participants met in small groups, each focused on one of the regions, to discuss

the regional research efforts and identify topics participants deemed in special need of research

attention. Members of the ESP's Scientific Committee offered their perspective on the results of

conference discussions on the final day of the conference, as did MMS personnel representing

each of the three regions
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ACCESS NUMBER: 16075

SIGNIFICANT CONCLUSIONS: In the closing session of the conference, two members of the

Scientific Committee (Lee Huskey of the University of Alaska and Joanna Endter-Wada of Utah

State University) offered their observations on the MMS socioeconomic studies program and the

conference proceedings. In summary, they are as follows.

It is important that the regions take stock of the results of research already

completed and the information expected from research currently underway.

The distinction between baseline and impact studies may not be a useful one; it may be more

important to understand how oil development as a whole has infused the regions and how this

changes over time.

Efforts to increase efficiency in socioeconomic studies by coordinating research should be

tempered by recognition of differences among the regions.

The changing nature of the oil industry is a very important issue.

The agency should give more attention to mitigation strategies.

The agency needs to think about research that will help it prepare to deal with the opening of

areas currently under moratoria.

The studies program should give more attention to research on the question of monitoring.

There should be more methodological and conceptual sharing, not only between the regions

but also with other Federal agencies and in larger professional arenas.

The agency should be careful not to become captive to its research tools; issues, not the

availability of methods, should lead the research agenda.

A means of continuing dialog between and among the socioeconomic studies staff and the

Scientific Committee would be useful.

STUDY RESULTS: In discussion of each of the MMS regions, participants identified numerous

issues of special concern, most of which embraced several component issues.

Alaska Region: Understanding Dimensions of Impact Assessment: Component issues included

the importance of understanding ripple effects and local variation in oil and gas development

impacts, the significance of geographic scale for impact assessment and impact management,

and the complexities of studying cumulative impacts and disaggregating project impacts from

other processes of change. Monitoring Key Indicators: Component issues included selecting

appropriate variables, monitoring the effects of cash income on subsistence production,

evaluating changes detected and involving local communities in monitoring efforts. Understanding

and Using Traditional Knowledge: Component issues included defining traditional knowledge,

collecting it, involving local communities in collecting and using it, developing protocols for its use

and using its evaluative dimension. Understanding and Facilitating Stakeholder Participation:

Component issues included improving local community participation in MMS activities, the effect

of the superior power of a Federal agency in efforts to collaborate with local communities, dealing

with the diversity of views and interests in local communities and defining who qualifies as a

stakeholder.

Gulf of Mexico Region: Understanding Oil and Gas Industry Restructuring: Component issues

included the need for careful definitions of the industry and the restructuring phenomenon,

understanding the industry view of restructuring, understanding the effects of restructuring on

corporate cultures and disaggregating the effects of restructuring from other economic processes.

Understanding the Oil and Gas Industry in Relation to Local Communities: Component issues

included the need to pay special attention to community change, the importance of focusing on

communities in the Eastern Gulf to be affected by new leasing activity, assessing local
* P.l.s affiliation may be different than that listed for Project Manager(s).

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ACCESS NUMBER: 16075

perceptions of gas and oil development, improving stakeholder participation in MMS research and

decision making, understanding the effects of industry restructuring on local communities and

determining if royalties are benefiting affected communities. Making the Most of Data and

Methods: Component issues included assessing the usefulness of extant data bases, considering

the compatibility of economic models in use and in development, uses for Geographic Information

Systems (GIS) and considerations regarding data, models and methods when designing new

studies.

Pacific Region: Synthesizing Research Results focused on the need to take stock of the results

of MMS socioeconomic studies to date and relevant research from other countries. Encouraging

Cross Disciplinary Research focused on the importance of bringing together social and natural

scientists as well as diverse social science disciplines. Understanding Decommissioning:

Component issues included the need to understand industry decision making and the pros and

cons of alternative uses for rigs. Understanding Perceptions of Risk among Activists and the

General Public focused on the role of activist groups in MMS public participation processes and

the relationship between activist views and those of the general public. Understanding Traditional

Knowledge: Component issues included the usefulness of traditional knowledge and its proper

definition. Understanding the Role of the Ocean in Everyday Life focused on the intangible

contributions of the ocean to life on the Pacific Coast, such as sense of place and aesthetic value.

Understanding Recreation and Tourism: Component issues included understanding tourist

perceptions of oil and gas industry activities; understanding the relationship among aesthetic

concerns, the visibility of industry structures and perceptions of risk; and assessing the value of

tourism to local economies. Using GIS in Social Research: Component issues included clarifying

the relevance of the use of GIS in research to funding decisions, implications of requiring that

data be delivered in GIS format and the relevance of GIS technology to long-term preservation of

data.

STUDY PRODUCT(S): LTG Associates, Inc. 2000. Report on the 1999 Minerals Management

Social and Economic Studies Conference. A final report for the U.S. Department of the Interior,

Minerals Management Service Environmental Studies Program, Herndon, Virginia. Contract No.

16075. 198 pp.