2000 Project The Gulfwide Earth Day 2000 Project Vision Inform the people who live, work, and play in the five Gulf Coast states that the Gulf of Mexico is an ecosystem hanging in the balance, with the expectation that an informed populace will work to effect change. As of February 1998, a Minerals Management Service official states there are 155 exploration wells being drilled in Gulf waters and 26 of those are in water depths exceeding 1,000 feet. As of February 1998, Minerals Management Service statistics show 3,800 producing platforms in the Gulf, of which 780 are major platforms. According to the Monitor , the Gulf of Mexico Foundation's quarterly publication, the population in coastal counties will increase on an average of more that 20 percent in the next 20 years. Annually, more than four million sport fishermen take more than 24 million fishing trips into Gulf waters.
Gulf ports handle nearly one-half of all U.S. import and export tonnage.
What is the Gulf of Mexico Program - The Gulf of Mexico Program, located at the Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, is an experiment in better government. Though underwritten by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Gulf of Mexico Program consists of a small core of professionals and a larger network of equal partners comprised of local citizens, the business community, agricultural leaders, environmentalists, scientists, engineers, and state and federal agencies. It is a unique, non-regulatory, inclusive consortium, seeking enviro nmental protection in concert with sound economic development of the Gulf Coast states.