The Bureau of Land Management OCS Environmental Studies Program - A Decisionmaking Orientation

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has been conducting a multidisciplinary, multimillion dollar environmental studies program designed to determine the impact of Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas, exploration, development, and production activities. Data derived from this program are put into the minerals management decision-making process at many different levels. This paper briefly describes the objectives and rationale behind the design and implementation of those studies, and serves as an introduction to subsequent papers dealing with specific BLM-sponsored studies.