The
Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act established policy for the management of
the OCS leasing program and for the protection of marine and coastal
environments. Currently the Marine Minerals Program utilizes three types of
research including, Marine Mineral Related Studies, Marine Mineral Resource
Evaluations, and Hurricane Recovery Data Collection in the Gulf of Mexico.
The studies information is used by MMS analysis to evaluate the effects of
specific proposed dredging operations, as required under current
environmental laws and legislation. The results are also incorporated, as
appropriate, in lease requirements and stipulations for the dredging of OCS
sand.
Marine Mineral Studies strives to
fulfill MMS’s environmental responsibilities which include: assessing the
effects of OCS activities on natural, historical, and human resources and
the appropriate monitoring and mitigating of those effects. The
Environmental
Studies Program (ESP) is required by the Outer Continental Shelf
Lands Act, as amended in 1978 (OCSLA) to provide information for sound
decision-making and management. The ESP conducts research across the
spectrum of the physical, biological and socioeconomic environments as
required by the OCSLAA and the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA).
Federal
OCS sand and gravel resources must be wisely managed to ensure that
environmental damage to the marine and coastal environments is minimized,
mitigated, or does not occur. The MMS developed a
Strategic Studies Plan that focused on integrating the collected
resource data provided through the State/Federal cooperative efforts with
environmental information to not only identify suitable OCS sand deposits,
but also to provide needed environmental information to make decisions
regarding the use of Federal sand for future beach nourishment activities.
Marine Mineral Resource Evaluations
have historically been completed through cooperative agreements and have
been used for joint sand evaluation projects with coastal states and
environmental studies and other research projects through universities.
Cooperative agreements with four Gulf of Mexico states (Alabama,
Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas) have been finalized to provide funding
from the recently allocated $1.28 million Katrina/Rita hurricane relief
funds to undertake work to locate new sources of offshore sand available
for coastal damage repair caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Since 1992, MMS has spent over $11 million
for marine mineral environmental studies. Site-specific, interdisciplinary
studies have been conducted in identified sand borrow areas to provide basic
information on the biological character of resident benthic communities, as
well as the evaluation of potential dredging effects on the local wave and
current regime.
Summary of MMS Sand and Gravel Environmental Research
(September 25, 2006)
Program
Highlights:
First
MMS Marine Minerals Program Information Transfer Meeting
June 20-22, 2006, Crowne Plaza Melbourne
Oceanfront, Melbourne, FL.
MMS
Sand and Gravel Environmental Studies Theme Section in the Journal
of
Coastal Research
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06/02/2008,
09:11 AM
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