Operational and Socioeconomic Impact of Nonexplosive Removal
of Offshore Structures

OCS Study MMS 2004-074

The Minerals Management Service (MMS), Gulf of Mexico OCS Region, announces the availability of a new study report, Operational and Socioeconomic Impact of Nonexplosive Removal of Offshore Structures.

This report discusses the general decommissioning processes, the primary forms of nonexplosive severance used in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), the processes involved in progressive transport (i.e., swallowing-up or jacket-hopping), and the economics related to and driving most decommissioning operations.  During Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) take-regulation rulemaking in 1995 (60 FR 53141, October 12, 1995), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries (NOAA-F) Service made this report’s development and completion a prerequisite for MMS prior to a subsequent reauthorization of take-regulations for severance activities under §101 (a) (5) of the MMPA (16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.).  In addition, much of the information from this report will be incorporated into a programmatic National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) document regarding the environmental impacts of all decommissioning operations on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) of the GOM.

This report is available only in compact disc format.  The disc is available from the Minerals Management Service, Gulf of Mexico OCS Region, at no charge by referencing OCS Study MMS 2004‑074.  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.