MMS ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES PROGRAM: ONGOING STUDIES |
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MMS OCS Region: |
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Title: |
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Planning Area: |
Gulfwide |
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Total Cost: $570,000 |
Period of Performance: FY 2006 – 2009 |
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Conducting Organization: |
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MMS Contact: |
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Description: Background: This research follows on findings of the
recently completed Benefits and Burdens study which underscored the
importance of the fabrication and shipbuilding industry to the socioeconomic
impact assessment of the OCS leasing program and of the recently completed
Labor Migration study which showed this industry to be the largest employer
of immigrant labor. The fabrication
and shipbuilding enterprises in the While the shipbuilding and fabrication industries are responsible for the lion’s share of the employment generated by the offshore oil and gas industry and, over decades, have served to anchor and grow many Gulf coast communities and shape their physical attributes, populations, and fiscal, social and economic systems, these industries and their dynamic interactions with their host communities are little described and less analyzed. While several MMS studies touch on one aspect of their significance or another, in sum they do not provide a description, let alone an analysis, of this industry’s significant socioeconomic effects. |
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Objectives: (1) This study will describe five
GOMR OCS-involved communities that rely heavily on the shipbuilding and
fabrication industries. They will
include: Ingleside/Corpus Christi, TX; Orange/Port Arthur, TX; Morgan
City/Houma/South Lafourche, LA; (2) This study will pay particular attentions to: (a) the organizational-developmental functions these industries have assumed (as companies and employees) within the community (e.g., in city planning, schools, charities, etc.), and (b) the integrative function they have played through employment, particularly of recent immigrant groups. |
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Methods: Literature search and synthesis, analysis of available data, discussions with local experts and public officials. |
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Products: Study reports, literature review, and database. |
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Importance to MMS:
This study will support
environmental assessments and decision-making by providing information and
analysis of one of the largest and least described sectors of the offshore
oil industry. The fabrication and
shipbuilding industry provides the largest, and one of the more volatile
sources of employment related to supporting offshore activities. This study will increase the MMS’ ability
to analyze the program’s local socioeconomic effects and will significantly
increase the knowledge of program effects in coastal |
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Current Status: The agreement has been modified to include Brownsville/Port Isabelle, TX. Fieldwork and data analysis is underway in all study communities. This study is progressing according to schedule. |
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Final Report Due: |
September 2009 |
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Publications: |
None |
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Affiliated WWW Sites: |
N/A |
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Revised date: |
March 2008 |
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ESPIS |
ESPIS
- All completed ESP Studies: |
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