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The
NewsRoom
Date: December 16, 2004
Oceans Managed Securely and Safely
How does one of the smallest and youngest agencies
in the federal government oversee 2 billion acres of ocean land? The
answer is as serious as our nation’s economic future and as complex as
the mineral resources and marine animals that we protect. Through
extensive research and safe operation programs, the Minerals
Management Service works to provide a secure energy future for America
and protect the environment. As you will see in this article, MMS is
performing many important and vital tasks to protect and preserve our
ocean environment.
MMS’s efforts include finding better ways to ensure
safe operations for the thousands of offshore oil and gas platforms,
to conducting essential environmental studies using cutting edge
technology.
In addition to providing access to critical energy and
other mineral resources needed for the nation’s economic well-being,
MMS also collects and disburses around $6 billion a year in mineral
revenues--$135 billion since 1982.
With all that activity, the MMS
has, for the past 22 years, helped provide America with domestic
offshore energy while ensuring safe operations for people and the
environment. And it has done so with stringent regulation of this
vital offshore industry.
Offshore oil production now
accounts for about 30 percent of total domestic production – more than
double what it was just 12 years ago. And experts estimate it may
increase to as much as 40 percent by 2010.
With national security interests
in mind, MMS is aggressively leading the way, with industry, to help
find new domestic deposits of oil and natural gas in the Gulf of
Mexico and off Alaska.
Director Johnnie Burton said,
“With an eye on the future, we are not only actively involved in
finding needed energy for the American people but are also considering
alternative sources of energy, like harnessing energy from offshore
wind farms, and looking at ways to extract natural gas from deepwater
methane hydrates.”
Energy exploration in deep water is perhaps the most
significant area of innovation in energy exploration. Now in its
ninth year of expansion, deepwater oil and gas development in the Gulf
of Mexico is a workhorse for U.S. domestic oil and gas production.
Ocean oil production rose 535 percent between 1995 and 2002, and
deepwater gas production rose 620 percent over those same years.
If current trends continue, by
2006, as much as 77 percent of daily oil production in the gulf and 26
percent of daily gas production could come from the deep water
regions.
MMS has a long tradition in
keeping a watchful eye on the marine environment. For years the agency
has funded important studies to gain a better understanding of that
environment in order to make safe and responsible leasing decisions.
MMS’ Offshore Energy and Minerals Management
(OEMM) program is responsible for all phases of mineral resource
management on the OCS. Under this umbrella is the Environmental
Studies Program, which provides the scientific information necessary
to make sound decisions pertaining to our ocean role.
“Our scientists coordinate
oceanographic research involving underwater archaeology, ocean
currents, sea ice conditions in Alaska, deep-sea chemosynthetic
communities, marine mammals, and the potential use of retired offshore
platforms as sites for harvesting marine bioproducts,” says Jim
Kendall, Chief Scientist for the agency.
At the Smithsonian’s Museum of
Natural History, diligent staff catalogue and store millions of
specimens sent to them by MMS supported scientists. Many of the
research projects that MMS supports involve the collection of
organisms, ranging from tiny shrimp to fist-sized mollusks. The
reason: Before exploratory drilling in new “frontier areas” begins,
MMS must determine if unique or fragile communities live in the areas,
and if these communities could be harmed by offshore oil and natural
gas development.
Along with the agency’s
regulatory arm, is an ocean science program that has funded over $650
million in environmental studies over the last 20 years, and about $17
million for its Technology Assessment and Research Program.
The agency’s research activities
have funded significant findings in marine research on marine mammal
distribution, abundance, and behavior and the potential effects of
human activity on their habitat. The agency prepares essential
environmental assessments and impact statements, and works with
coastal universities to gather needed scientific information used to
make responsible offshore leasing decisions.
Coastal areas account for
less than 10 percent of America’s land area, but are home to half the
population, and 40 percent of new commercial and residential
development. The population explosion is only part of the new
environmental stresses being put on the nation’s coastal areas, which
are under constant assault from the elements. Proactive management
and coastal restoration efforts like the MMS beach replenishment
partnership program are critical to stabilizing these receding
shorelines.
MMS collects and provides
geologic and environmental information, developed through partnerships
with fourteen coastal States, to identify and make available sand
deposits in Federal waters suitable for beach nourishment and wetlands
protection projects. Information collected in conjunction with these
efforts assists the MMS in making future decisions relative to the
possible leasing of these deposits.
In the complex world of managing
oil and gas exploration and development on the nation’s OCS, MMS is
carrying out its mission by employing the best scientists, funding far
reaching studies, and ensuring that the highest safety standards are
met so that America gets its needed energy.
“We are convinced that offshore
oil and gas development, supported by a strong federal regulatory
system, will continue to play an important role in securing a safe and
dependable energy supply for our nation,” said Burton.
MMS, part of the U.S. Department of the Interior,
oversees 1.76 billion acres of the Outer Continental Shelf, managing
offshore energy and minerals while protecting the human, marine, and
coastal environments through advanced science and technology
research. The OCS provides 30 percent of oil and 23 percent of
natural gas produced domestically, and sand used for coastal
restoration. MMS collects, accounts for, and disburses mineral
revenues from Federal and American Indian lands, with fiscal year 2004
disbursements of around $8 billion and more than $143 billion since
1982. The Land and Water Conservation Fund, which pays for
acquisition of state and federal park and recreation land, gets nearly
$1 billion a year.
Relevant Web Sites:
MMS Main Website
Media Contacts:
Curtis Carey
(202) 208-3983
Gary Strasburg (202) 208-3985
MMS: Securing Ocean Energy & Economic Value for
America
U.S. Department of the Interior
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