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For constituent inquiries or comments, please contact:
Blossom Robinson
BOEM External Affairs Lead
BOEM Office of Public Affairs
(202) 208-3984
Blossom.Robinson@BOEM.gov
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Applying BOEM Environmental Science across the Spectrum
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Alan Thornhill
BOEM Chief Environmental Officer |
In late November, I traveled to the BOEM Marine Renewable Energy Environmental Science Conference in Corvallis, OR, where more than 100 scientists, resource managers, and other interested people were helping us understand the environmental effects of marine renewable energy development off the Oregon coast. The dialogue was robust and informative. Meanwhile, BOEM colleagues in New Orleans were holding Lease Sale 229 for oil and gas in the Western Gulf of Mexico, and co-workers in Washington, D.C. were engaged with state officials about BOEM's response to Hurricane Sandy using Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) sand to restore beaches. Not a day goes by when BOEM environmental science isn't put to good use.
As the Director of the Office of Environmental Programs (OEP) and as BOEM's Chief Environmental Officer (CEO), my job has been to see that the bureau integrates state of the art science into its decisions affecting development of OCS resources. It is also OEP's job to identify long-term research needs to help meet our nation's growing energy demand, deal with climate change and help address emergencies with the best science available.
BOEM's collective vision is to help advance good stewardship of OCS resources by continuing to ensure that environmental science has a voice at the table and that BOEM is looking over the horizon to the next set of challenges--asking the right questions and supporting additional research when and where needed, well in advance of decisions being made.
BOEM crossed the one-year-old threshold on October 1, and the expertise within OEP's Division of Environmental Assessment (DEA) and the Division of Environmental Science (DES) helped BOEM meet major milestones. Our subject matter expert teams collaborated with the Office of Strategic Resources to develop and publish the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement accompanying the 2012-2017 Five Year Oil and Gas Program in June. That EIS informed November's lease sale, the first to take place under the new Five Year Program.
This fall, we posted the new environmental Studies Development Plan for Fiscal Years 2013-15, laying out research priorities and possible new studies to be considered for award in the next three years, subject to the availability of funds, across BOEM's physical, biological and social science disciplines for all OCS regions. We posted 15 study reports in the fourth quarter, covering topics from Alaska seals and whales, to Atlantic sea birds and Pacific acoustics. We began funding 44 new and/or continuing studies.
One of the most important aspects of our studies is our partnerships with other Federal agencies. Partnerships leverage funds from Federal and other sources, and enable BOEM and other scientific organizations such as universities, states and non-governmental organizations to conduct research beyond what each could do alone. Many of the studies are recognized for exceeding requirements. Two such BOEM studies received awards in October for their management excellence and scientific significance.
The National Oceanographic Partnership Program's Excellence in Partnering Award went to the scientists leading the Lophelia II study of this deepwater coral in the Gulf of Mexico for the past five years. The research yielded a wealth of scientific data, including discovery of Lophelia coral living deeper than previously known, and lead to the development of measures to protect sensitive habitat during energy development, a key BOEM objective. Read the full story...
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Ocean Research
Updates on BOEM national and international activities |
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Environmental studies support decisions on OCS renewable energy
The Energy Policy Act of 2005 gave BOEM the authority to regulate renewable energy development on the OCS. Since then, BOEM has conducted a wide range of environmental studies in anticipation of the day when offshore renewable energy would become a reality for the United States.
One issue to emerge from years of consultation with Atlantic and Pacific coast stakeholders is the need to identify space-use conflicts and analyze potential measures to address them. The principle of mitigating space-use conflicts is also a key component of the President's National Ocean Policy.
This fall, fo.llowing three years of study, BOEM released a comprehensive new report and geo-database addressing the issue on both the east and west coasts. It is titled Identification of OCS Renewable Energy Space-Use Conflicts and Analysis of Potential Mitigation Measures. While the study focused on the fishing and shipping industries, it captured over a dozen different types of uses.
 The report characterizes space-use on the OCS from Maine to Florida and from Washington to Northern California; and identifies users, their spaces, as well as compatible and conflicting uses, avoidance and mitigation measures, and opportunities for communication. The geo-database contains over 800 layers on space-use, such as recreational fishing, oil and gas facilities, research, and recreational activities. This database provides BOEM with a robust tool for spatial analysis on ocean uses. The report provides information on conflicts that might arise with the development of renewable energy facilities, and identifies more than 30 avoidance and mitigation measures that might be used to address potential conflicts.
The research was conducted through a $824,872 BOEM contract with Industrial Economics, Inc. of Boston, Mass., and involved subcontracted principal investigators from Oregon State University, the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, the University of Massachusetts and the University of California to conduct the study.
The final report, Identification of Outer Continental Shelf Renewable Energy Space-Use Conflicts and Analysis of Potential Mitigation Measures, is available here. To find the technical announcement, click here.
Federal collaboration leading to protocols frameworks
for renewable energy
 The waters off the United States Pacific coast OCS are being considered as the possible future site of ocean renewable energy devices that harness wave, tidal and wind energy, in addition to the renewable energy planning underway for the Atlantic coast. Ensuring this is done in an environmentally responsible manner requires environmental studies that collect baseline and post-installation data. BOEM, the U.S. Department Energy (DOE) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) collaborated under the National Oceanographic Partnership Program (NOPP) to fund two studies (one on the Pacific coast and one on the Atlantic coast) to address these areas.
The goals were to provide a clear, consistent process for regulators and industry to follow when designing environmental baseline and post-installation monitoring studies for wave, tidal and offshore wind projects, thus reducing time and uncertainty associated with project development. The primary outcomes of these studies are Protocols Frameworks that screen ocean renewable energy technologies and environmental site characteristics to identify needed information and appropriate monitoring protocols. Research for both took place from 2010-2012. Pacific Energy Ventures of Portland, Ore., conducted the Pacific coast study for nearly $500,000. The University of Rhode Island was the prime contractor for the Atlantic coast study at a cost of $745,000.
These studies were two of eight joint research awards through NOPP totaling nearly $5 million from BOEM, DOE and NOAA together to support the responsible siting and permitting of offshore wind energy facilities and ocean energy generated from waves, tides, currents and thermal gradients.
Technical Announcements: Pacific coast study, Atlantic coast study |
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As part of the Department of the Interior, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) promotes energy independence, environmental protection and economic development through responsible, science-based management of offshore conventional and renewable energy.
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