|
|
Planning for the Future of the Gulf’s Outer Continental Shelf
Dr. Walter Cruickshank
Deputy Director, Minerals Management Service
Department of the Interior
As the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy (USCOP) finalizes its recommendations, the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service is working with the Council on Environmental Quality to assess how its ongoing activities on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), along with those of its industry partners, may already align with draft USCOP recommendations. This will be followed by the development of new strategies appropriate for supporting a coordinated and comprehensive national ocean policy. For the Gulf of Mexico, this period of review, assessment, and call for increased coordination could not be timelier. The deepwater area of the Gulf continues to rapidly evolve as the major domestic energy source; since January 2004 alone, there have been eight new discoveries of oil and gas. In 1990, about 4 percent of the oil and less than 1 percent of the natural gas produced on the Gulf’s OCS were from deepwater regions. By the end of 2003, more than 61 percent of the Gulf’s oil production and 29 percent of its natural gas were from that area. It is already being speculated that deepwater oil production in the Gulf could reach 40 percent of the domestic production by 2010. Our ongoing review not only takes into account the more “traditional” view of Gulf OCS activities but also a plethora of evolving issues including methane hydrates, alternative energy, alternative/multiple use, and proposals to install and operate deepwater ports for receiving and re-gasifying liquefied natural gas. All of these activities will require increased commitments to such concepts as ecosystem-based management; new procedures and enthusiasm for joint state-federal-academic-industry research; mitigations protecting newly discovered biological communities; and the establishment of appropriate Federal-industry roles in new national endeavors such as the Integrated Ocean Observing System, to list but a few. Integrating these rapidly increasing and evolving issues, goals, and responsibilities into a national ocean policy will no doubt prove to be a challenge, but one we look forward to meeting.
|
