The Minerals Management Service Mandate
A 1999 MMS document, “Applied Social Science in MMS: A Framework for
Decision-Making,” describes the agency’s mandate concisely. The following is
adapted from that statement.
The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act as amended in 1978 (OCSLAA) and the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) provide the agency’s primary mandate.
Providing the information needed for balanced decision-making is an objective of both
laws. Both direct the MMS to study the human environment and both include guidance on
agency social and economic information needs.
Section 18 of the OCSLAA, the foundation for Department of the Interior OCS activities,
mandates that management of the OCS shall consider the “economic, social, and
environmental values of the renewable and nonrenewable resources contained in the Outer
Continental Shelf, and the potential impact of oil and gas exploration on other resource
values of the marine, coastal, and human environments” (43 USC 1344). It defines the
“human environment” to include “the physical, social, and economic
components, conditions, and factors which interactively determine the state, condition,
and quality of living conditions, employment, and health of those affected, directly or
indirectly, by activities occurring on the Outer Continental Shelf…”(43 USC
1333).
NEPA requires Federal agencies engaged in significant land actions to assess impacts,
including impacts on the human environment. NEPA also describes how agencies should
conduct scoping (40CFR 1501.7), invite public comments (40 CFR 1503.1), respond to
comments (40 CFR 1501.4), and conduct public involvement (40 CFR 1506.6). The Council on
Environmental Quality’s (CEQ) Regulations for Implementing the Procedural Provisions
of the National Environmental Policy Act (40 CFR 1500-1508) state that the “human
environment” is to be “interpreted comprehensively” to include “the
natural and physical environment and the relationship of people with that
environment” (40 CFR 1508.14). An action’s “aesthetic, historic, cultural,
economic, social, or health” effects must be assessed, “whether direct,
indirect, or cumulative” (40 CFR 1508.8). CEQ regulations state that when
“economic or social and natural or physical environmental effects are interrelated,
the EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) will discuss all of these effects on the human
environment” (40 CFR 1508.14). EISs enable federal decision-makers to consider the
positive, negative, intended, and unintended consequences of potential courses of action
before they proceed.
The MMS prepares a National Strategic Plan which sets the framework for the national
Environmental Studies Program (ESP) planning process. The national ESP in turn sets the
framework for the development of regional Annual Studies Plans (ASPs). (Public involvement
is an important part of the ASP preparation process. For example, see Appendix B for a
description of how the Alaska Region implements public
involvement in preparing its ASP). Within the MMS, the ESP conducts research on all
dimensions of the human environment - physical, biological and socioeconomic - as broadly
defined by the OCSLAA and NEPA. The “Environmental Studies Program National Strategic
Plan, 1998-2002” states:
The ESP Strategic Plan addresses a wide variety of environmental concerns and issues on
a national scale by identifying emerging and ongoing program areas. It complements and
builds upon broader strategic plans that set Agency-wide policies and directions. Within
these broad issues or themes, multi-disciplined studies will be developed, as budget
allocations allow.
The socioeconomic studies component of the program:
The conference proceedings documented in this report will provide input to the national
ESP and ASP planning processes and do not imply a separate process.
Federally approved Coastal Zone Management programs of coastal states have increased
the importance of social and economic information to successful OCS program
implementation. A variety of legislation also has a bearing on MMS responsibilities. The
Endangered Species Act requires agencies to give special consideration to certain
environmental and user-conflict issues. In the Alaska Region, the Alaska Native Claims
Settlement Act as amended in 1988 requires the MMS to give customary and traditional
subsistence uses special considerations. The recently enacted Environmental Justice Act
mandates examination of the effects of proposed actions on low income and minority
communities and groups. Other examples of applicable laws include the Marine Mammal
Protection Act, Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, and Alaska National Interest Lands
Conservation Act.
For more information, contact Rodney Cluck.
