Innovative and nationally recognized, a major effort now underway in the Pacific OCS Region is the California Offshore Oil and Gas Energy Resources (COOGER) Study. This study exemplifies the MMS philosophy that the offshore resources are best managed in partnership with all key stakeholders. The COOGER study is an unprecedented cooperative research effort, planned and managed through a consortium of State and local government agencies, the oil and gas industry, and MMS. The costs for the study are shared by MMS (1/3) and industry (2/3).
The COOGER study addresses long-standing questions regarding the ability of local communities and public agencies to deal with the cumulative onshore issues associated with offshore development. Heretofore, these issues were often raised in reaction to proposals to lease or develop offshore areas. Currently, there is no proposal to lease OCS areas in the Pacific Region, nor any proposal to develop non-producing existing leases here. (There are 40 non-producing leases in the region; all are offshore Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo Counties.) Absent the pressure to make immediate decisions concerning offshore oil and gas activities, key stakeholders are able to better focus on the "big picture" and work together. As partners, they can develop a broader understanding of the possible future oil and gas development and the associated onshore constraints which may limit how and when offshore development occurs. The study is intended to produce a public information document, not a decision-making document.
COOGER was initiated in March 1995, with a contract award to Dames and Moore, Inc.; expected completion is early 1998. However, work began 2 years ago, when representatives of the governments of the Tri-County area and the State began discussing with the Pacific OCS Region long-standing concerns about offshore oil and gas development. The MMS/Tri-County Forum, as these informal gatherings came to be known, developed the idea for a cooperative study and designed the management structure.
All parties to the study are committed to public input and participation. To facilitate this participation, public workshops have been held and more are scheduled. The first workshops were held in Ventura, Santa Barbara, Santa Maria, and San Luis Obispo in the fall of 1995. Future workshops will be announced by press release, letters of invitation, and via this web site.
The first product of COOGER, the " Consolidated Public Proposal," has been released and provides an Executive Summary of the study as well as details about the schedule, management plan, assumptions, technical approach, and public participation program. The report is available from the Pacific OCS Region.
Work on COOGER continues; however, changes in the expected future conditions have required the contractor to reevaluate work already accomplished. Please read the update for further information.
What is the Status?
Work on COOGER continues; however, changes in the expected future conditions have required the contractor, Dames & Moore, to reevaluate work already accomplished. The delays in the progress of the study are discussed in more detail below.
The work on the COOGER Study continues at a pace slower than hoped for or anticipated. The delays in the study have resulted from a wide variety of causes, ranging from the death of one of our key researchers to significant changes in potential development outcomes if Chevron decommissions the Point Arguello projects by the year 2000. Chevron's announcement has created a need to reevaluate possible outcomes because facilities expected to be in place as the COOGER Study began in 1994 may not be available for developing leased resources in the future. This affects potential future scenarios. The Technical Management Team also reviewed a draft of the existing and future conditions without further oil and gas development and found the detailed outline required by the contract made the report unwieldy and difficult to read. Dames & Moore has been requested to revise the report to be readable and to update some information from the 1994 time period called for in the contract.
No, MMS and its fellow COOGER participants are committed to a full range of public participation and involvement in the COOGER Study. We anticipate public workshops being held in mid January 1998. Workshops will be held in each county.
The most recent COOGER Steering Committee Meeting was held on October 8, 1997 at the MMS Office in Camarillo, California. To review the minutes of the last Steering Committee Meeting click here.
We anticipate the study to be completed in mid 1998.
Yes, Frederick L. White, COOGER Contracting Officers Technical Representative, and, on occasion, other participants in the study are available to meet with your group. To schedule a meeting with MMS or others, contact Fred White.
Offshore oil and gas development in Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo Counties (Tri-Counties) has a long history of controversy. To a large extent, the controversy is rooted in questions regarding the ability of local communities and public agencies to deal with the cumulative onshore issues associated with offshore development. The California Offshore Oil and Gas Energy Resources (COOGER) Study is intended to evaluate, regionally and subregionally, the potential onshore effects of offshore oil and gas development from a "big picture" perspective. Although some environmental review documents addressing proposed offshore development attempt to address this issue, the effort is complicated by several factors. Most notably, these complicating factors include:
The Tri-Counties' local communities have attempted to address the complicating factors described above during individual project reviews, and have participated in some of the most comprehensive environmental documents prepared anywhere in the United States. Nonetheless, the essential question that typically remains unanswered is: "Will our local communities and outlying areas change if offshore development of existing leased areas continues?" The COOGER Study is an attempt to answer this question. To provide a framework to understand the answers it produces, it will also attempt to answer the questions: "Will local communities change if offshore development does not continue?" and "Will local communities be affected by varying levels of offshore development?" As is typical with studies of this nature, answers to these questions will involve research regarding a range of technical details, such as offshore production potential, onshore facility engineering characteristics, public infrastructure capacity, and other topics. This summary document provides an overview of the specific investigations which are currently underway, along with an explanation of how these investigations will help answer the questions defined above.
The COOGER Study is not intended to produce a decision making document; its purpose is to provide a public information document
. No agency policies regarding specific projects or allowable levels of offshore development will result from this Study. This Study effort will allow the public, agencies, and industry to explore the onshore effects of offshore development with a "big picture" view, and without the pressure associated with the environmental review of a specific project application. This effort is intended to develop a common understanding of important issues, and may help to develop a broader understanding of future development proposals in this overall context. Individual proposals will still be subject to the full environmental review as required by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).The COOGER Study program is made up of eight specific Tasks that together will provide an understanding of the onshore constraints associated with offshore development, and their relationship to varying levels of offshore development, both regionally and subregionally. The evaluation will address a 20-year period. The Study's final report will present the results of individual tasks, including: (1) a report introduction; (2) descriptions of existing onshore conditions; (3) descriptions of future onshore conditions; (4) the "building" and description of five offshore development scenarios; (5) a comparative analysis of the five scenarios; (6) development of an Executive Summary, Technical Abstract, and Summary; (7) completion of a comprehensive bibliography; and, (8) development of a Study glossary, technical appendices, and methodology for monitoring updates. More information about these Tasks is provided in Section 4.0 and 5.0 of this summary.
The COOGER Study is funded by the U.S. Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service (MMS) and the oil and gas industry. However, to broaden the scope and input of the Study, the overall program is being managed by a consortium of federal, state and local (County) regulatory agencies, and representatives of the oil and gas industry. The management structure includes a Steering Committee, which is responsible for the overall direction of the project, and a Technical Management Team, which is responsible for routine direction to the MMS concerning Study management. The Technical Management Team reports to the Steering Committee. The management bodies of the Study program are strongly committed to public input and participation throughout the entire Study program. To ensure this participation, a series of public workshops have been scheduled. These workshops and a mailing list response form for future information regarding the Study are reviewed in Section 6.0 of this summary. We hope that this summary will help answer your questions concerning the COOGER Study. If you have additional questions, or would like to offer suggestions regarding this Study, please contact the Minerals Management Service at the address provided below.
MINUTES OF COOGER STEERING MEETING
The meeting opened with introductory remarks by Dr. Lisle Reed the MMS Regional Director.
Dr. Reed briefly explained the unusual decorations in the room and MMS' receipt of the
Vice Presidents Hammer Award for Innovation in Government.
The last Steering Committee was reviewed and the action items associated with the last meeting were updated. It was explained that the COOGER Contract initially required a great deal of redundancy and resulted in a report that was difficult to read and not consistent with the goals of the Study, even though it complied with contract terms. The COOGER contract was subsequently modified to allow for a more readable product and to update the information from the original base year of 1993.
The role of the Steering Committee was discussed and ways to insure effective involvement of the Business and Environmental Community Representatives into the process. The MMS indicated that they serve as the Staff for the Business and Environmental Community Representatives in their review of COOGER related items. The attached paper "COOGER Management Structure" outlines the primary features of the COOGER study management. It was evident that revised procedures for review and distribution of documents for review were required to insure full and timely involvement of the Steering Committee Members in COOGER. The "Simultaneous Review Procedures" have been instituted to insure full participation of the Environmental and Business Community Representatives.
Specific questions were raised on the Steering Committees role in scenarios. It was explained that the role was the same for the Scenarios as in the rest of the Study.
Discussion of a briefing prepared for the MMS Director. The discussion centered on two themes, does COOGER include development of new leases and are things being hidden from the public about COOGER. It was clearly stated by the TMT, MMS and reiterated by Dames & Moore that COOGER does not look at new leasing. The confusion comes from taking the briefing materials out of their presentation context. MMS is required to prepare a 5-Year Program and it is likely that the success of the COOGER process will be considered in any new leasing proposal off of California. The current 5-Year Program began in July 1997 and goes to June 2002, so the earliest that any new oil and gas leasing can be considered is after July 2002. Any leasing prior to 2005 is very unlikely since it takes approximately 3 years to prepare for a Lease Sale.
Discussion about the Public Information Update centered around making the document accessible and at the same time insuring that it addresses public concerns. The initial draft was lacking in detail sufficient to interest the public. It was suggested that some of the results from the Tasks 2 & 3 Chapter be incorporated in the Public Information Update. This was agreed to and Fred White and Dames & Moore will work to add more information to the document.
Information on the policy decisions by the Steering Committee and a list of Steering Committee Members was requested. The Steering Committee Membership list and a Summary of Policy decisions will be provided to the Steering Committee.
The Public Workshop format, timing and location were discussed; it was decided that the County TMT Representative would serve as the host for the Workshop. A professional facilitator from the County where the workshop was being held would facilitate the Workshops. Each county will provide a list of facilitators to MMS. The Business and Environmental Representatives working with COUNTY TMT Member could do the identification of facilitators. Workshop will be held in January, 1998. The next public workshops will be structured to accomplish four things, 1) provide feedback on the first workshops, 2) provide a look at some of the baseline information, 3) to discuss the process of building scenarios, and 4) to receive input for building scenarios. To facilitate public input a series of questions will be provided to the audience, where they will be able to raise concerns and different ideas on the scenarios.
The Public Workshops should be held on Weekday evenings, and scheduled to avoid conflict with City Council or other meetings likely to involve the interested public. It was stated that there should be clear introduction of the Steering Committee and TMT at the Workshops.
The next Steering Committee Meeting will be scheduled after the Public Workshops, but is tentatively scheduled for March, 1998.
The internal draft of Tasks 2 & 3 of the COOGER Study was distributed to the TMT members and Steering Committee Members who are not represented on the TMT. Comments are due to Fred White at MMS by December 8, 1997. Fred White and others will meet with the Business and Environmental Representatives to discuss their comments on Tasks 2 & 3. Fred will carry the concerns identified by the Representatives to Dames & Moore and any TMT meetings.
The meeting was adjourned with the distribution of the Tasks 2 & 3 Chapter for the COOGER Study.
For more information contact:
Fred White
