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Technical Summary

NSL GM-21-03x

Study Title Environmental Justice Technical Workshops for the Gulf of Mexico Region

Report Title Environmental justice technical workshops for the Gulf of Mexico region

Report Number(s) (OCS 

Study) BOEM 2024-065 

Completion Date of Report July 2024

Number of Pages 46

Award Number(s) M22AC00004

Sponsoring OCS Region or 

Office Gulf of Mexico Regional Office

Applicable Planning Area(s) Gulf of Mexico

Fiscal Year(s) of Study 

Funding FY 2022–2025

Costs by Fiscal Year

2022–2023: 95,999

2023–2024: 0

2024–2025: 0

Cumulative Project Cost 95,999

Project Manager(s) Brian Snyder

Affiliation of Project 

Manager(s)

Department of Environmental Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton 

Rouge, LA 

Address of Project Manager(s) 93 South Quad Drive, Baton Rouge LA 70803

Principal Investigator(s) Brian Snyder

Keywords Environmental justice; Gulf of Mexico; energy transition

Abstract: BOEM and Louisiana State University convened a series of four, all-day workshops to discuss 

environmental justice (EJ) in the Gulf Coast region as it relates to BOEM-regulated activities. Workshops 

were held at Louisiana State University in late 2022 and 2023. Panelists were selected from government, 

academia, industry, and local stake-holder communities and the same panelists were generally invited for 

all four sessions. The panel concluded that specific studies could enhance BOEM’s management for 

environmental justice. 

Background: Environmental justice is based on the empirical observation that minority and low-income 

communities often shoulder a disproportionate share of the negative environmental impacts of industrial 

activity. A series of Executive Orders over the last 30 years have made environmental justice an 

important component of federal decision making. However, for the offshore oil, gas, mineral, and 

renewable energy activities managed by BOEM, the link between offshore activity and onshore EJ is 

neither clear nor direct. For example, Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) crude oil is refined onshore, but are the 

negative environmental impacts of that refining due to the Gulf production, or would they exist even in 

the absence of Gulf hydrocarbons? Similarly, when Gulf crude is converted to diesel and burned for 

transportation, are those emissions part of BOEM’s regulatory responsibility? In other words, what are the 

boundaries of BOEM’s regulatory authority?
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BOEM manages a changing offshore industry. While the hydrocarbon sector continues to produce, there 

is a growing interest in offshore renewable energy, especially wind. There are opportunities for carbon 

sequestration offshore. These new industrial activities have the potential for additional EJ impacts through 

the operation of offshore turbines, drilling of new sequestration wells and pipelines, and the creation of a 

new supply chain to support them. To date, there is very little relevant literature on the EJ impacts of 

offshore renewables.

Methods: To address these are related questions, Louisiana State University and BOEM convened a 

series of workshops in which panelists from academia, government, industry, and the local community 

discussed issues related to BOEM’s authority, especially affected communities, data needs, and potential 

future studies to address those needs. 

Results: The panel concluded by proposing three new studies. The first was aimed at EJ community 

analysis and identification and was based on the panel’s observation that identifying an “EJ community” 

was exceedingly difficult given existing tools. The second was aimed at understanding interacting federal, 

state and local agency authority to regulate EJ and was based on the panel’s observation that, while 

BOEM’s regulatory purview may be limited by both statute and workforce, other agencies regulated other 

parts of the oil and gas value chain. While BOEM’s regulatory boundaries may not extend to the refining 

sector (for example) BOEM could identify contacts at other agencies that do regulate other parts of the 

value chain in order to form interagency EJ working groups. Finally, the panel proposed that BOEM 

undertake a study on how the energy transition might be experienced locally. The Gulf Coast is 

experiencing a wide variety of changes–land loss, hurricanes, a changing energy industry, increasing 

temperatures–that are hard to fully understand at a macro scale. The panel proposed a mixed methods 

study to understand how the combination of climate change and the energy transition are affecting local 

communities.

Conclusion: While macro-level data are useful, a more detailed understanding of EJ based on local 

observations and stakeholder engagement is critical to actually understanding EJ in local communities.

Study Products:

BOEM study report: Snyder BF (Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA). Environmental Justice 

technical workshops for the Gulf of Mexico region. New Orleans (LA): U.S. Department of the Interior, 

BOEM. 46 p. Obligation no.: M22AC00004. Report No.: OCS Study BOEM 2024-065.

Map of Study Area: 
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