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:

• Provides information essential to understanding the consequences of OCS-related activities for the populations, economies and social and cultural systems in areas where the activities occur;
• Supports the MMS’s planning and management processes; and
• Provides information essential for effective interaction with the public about the effects of OCS activities.

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.