Continental Press Staff's Books

This book reviews the adequacy of information available for predicting and managing the environmental and human effects of oil and gas activities on Alaska's Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). It examines how the Alaskan OCS and adjacent onshore natural and human environments differ from those in more temperate waters and to what degree the information characterizes those differences. (It also recommends alternatives to further studies in some cases where more information would be helpful for decisionmaking.)

Approximately 70 percent of the world's population is concentrated in the coastal borderlands, which geologists recognize to be the present continental margins. This new book on these continental margins provides a detailed account of a meeting which brought together specialists in marine and terrestrial geology, geochemistry, and geophysics. The workshop garnered widespread support and enthusiasm for a new direction in margins research focused on interdisciplinary studies of the fundamental processes of continental margin evolution. Scientific problems and solutions were identified for both divergent and convergent margins. Results of the workshop show that many of the fundamental plate interaction processes are common to all margins, whether formed by extension, contraction, or translation. This conclusion suggests a unified approach to margins research. A margins initiative has been proposed to follow up on the workshop results by developing science programs aimed at understanding the processes that control the initiation and evolution of continental margins.

This is the third of four volumes from the Committee to Review the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Environmental Studies Program (ESP). The first two dealt with physical, oceanographic, and ecological aspects of the program. This book presents the findings of the panel's investigation of the social and economic relevance of OCS oil and gas activities and the social and economic aspects of the ESP. It describes the potential effects of OCS activities on the human environment, presents an ideal socioeconomic studies program, and comments on the current program in the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, Pacific, and Alaska regions.

A report by the Physical Oceanography Panel of the National Research Council of the United States into the physical oceanographic aspects of the Environmental Studies Program. The Committee evaluated the quality and relevance of studies carried out in waters under federal control which extend from the limits of state jurisdictions (3-12 miles offshore) and include the central and outer continental shelf waters and the continental slope of the United States.

Aggressive, effective safety inspection programs are key elements to ensuring that oil- and gas-producing platform operations on the outer continental shelf are conducted in a safe and environmentally sound manner. Although the oil and gas leaseholders themselves are primarily responsible for the soundness of their operations, the Minerals Management Service (MMS) of the Department of the Interior is charged with prescribing safe practices and inspecting platforms. In response to an MMS request, this book examines possible revisions of MMS's inspection system, appraises inspection practices elsewhereâ€"both in government and industryâ€"assesses the advantages and disadvantages of alternative procedures, and recommends potentially more efficient practices aimed at increasing industry's awareness of its accountability for safety.

Book's by Continental Press Staff

Environmental Information for Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Decisions in Alaska

Environmental Information for Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Decisions in Alaska

Margins

Margins

Assessment of the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf Environmental Studies Program

Assessment of the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf Environmental Studies Program

Assessment of the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf Environmental Studies Program

Assessment of the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf Environmental Studies Program

Assessment of the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf Environmental Studies Program

Assessment of the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf Environmental Studies Program

Alternatives for Inspecting Outer Continental Shelf Operations

Alternatives for Inspecting Outer Continental Shelf Operations

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