OCS Study MMS 2002-011

The Minerals Management Service (MMS), Gulf of Mexico OCS Region, announces the availability of a new study report, Socioeconomic and Environmental Issues Analysis of Oil and Gas Activity in the Outer Continental Shelf of the Western Gulf of Mexico.

This research was conducted in five Texas coastal counties and focused on the perceptions individuals held on a number of issues and on their perspectives about the relationship between the oil and gas industry and Texas coastal communities. The report is organized around five topical areas that grew from 39 discussions the researchers held with community leaders in business, government, and environmental organizations. The report emphasizes the variation of responses. One of its strengths is its numerous verbatim quotations. The report concludes that, in spite of the 1980’s oil price bust, Texas coastal communities continue to be dependent on the oil industry. Given this level of dependency, one could easily oversimplify the social and economic issues salient to the people in coastal communities. In actuality, the relationships between the oil and gas industry and the communities that host its various activities are complex, perhaps best viewed as a series of balances between competing interests, needs, values, and goals.

You can obtain copies of the report from the Minerals Management Service, Gulf of Mexico OCS Region, at a charge of $3.00 by referencing OCS Study MMS 2002-011. You will be able to obtain this report also from the National Technical Information Service in the near future. Here are the addresses. You may also inspect copies at selected Federal Depository Libraries.