MMS Announces Five Year Study of
Environmental Mitigation Aimed at Reducing the Impacts of Offshore
Oil and Gas Operations
Federal Oil and
Gas Platforms Offshore Southern California Focus of Study
CAMARILLO, CA. The Interior
Department’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) announced today it
has contracted with Applied Marine Sciences, Inc. to assist in
evaluating environmental mitigation measures and conditions required
for oil and gas projects on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) along
southern California. The five-year study will examine methods used
to alleviate concerns associated with OCS oil and gas operations.
“The study will help us determine the
effectiveness of existing mitigation measures required for Federal
OCS oil and gas operations offshore southern California. The
objective of these requirements is to preserve and protect the
quality of the human, marine and coastal environments. Our goal will
be to look at whether the measures have achieved their intended
purpose or if there are better ways to accomplish the desired
protection,” said MMS Pacific Region Manager Ellen G. Aronson.
“We expect that information from the
study’s scientific analysis will be useful to decision makers in
adapting and/or developing future mitigation measures and project
conditions for oil and gas and, perhaps, future alternative energy
operations off our coast.” Aronson continued.
The MMS study contract with Applied
Marine Sciences, Inc. calls for ocean fieldwork including observing,
sampling, and /or monitoring of mitigation measures and their
effects applied to existing OCS operations. Primary study locations
associated with Pacific OCS operations will be the Santa Barbara
Channel, Santa Maria Basin and San Pedro Basin.
In addition to Applied Marine
Science, Inc., other partners in the MMS Environmental Mitigation
Monitoring Study include: Science Applications International
Corporation (SAIC), Reese-Chambers Systems Consultants, Inc., and
Fugro West.
Although the study will focus on
mitigation of offshore oil and gas projects, there may be some
application of these practices to projects harnessing offshore
alternative energy, such as wave, ocean current and wind.
Contact:
John Romero
(805) 389-7533
MMS: Securing Ocean Energy & Economic Value for America
U.S. Department of the Interior
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Last Updated:
10/29/2008,
01:33 PM
Central Time