U.S. Department of the Interior Minerals Management Service Gulf of Mexico OCS Region

The Minerals Management Service (MMS), Gulf of Mexico Region conducts all leasing and resource management functions on the Outer Continental Shelf for the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic areas.  There has been a dramatic increase in the amount of oil and gas deepwater activity in the Gulf of Mexico due to new technological developments and discoveries in new geological provinces.  In recognition of this new trend toward deep water, the MMS will host a planning environmental workshop to elicit information to enhance our knowledge of the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico and to identify potential information gaps that may warrant further research.  The workshop will be held April 22-24, 1997, at the Radisson Hotel, 1500 Canal Street, New Orleans, Louisiana.

The recommendations and issues identified in the workshop proceedings will be used in designing future research studies needed by the MMS.  These resulting studies will provide information of use in preparing environmental assessments and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) documents, and possibly in developing regulations needed to oversee oil and gas activities in the deepwater areas of the region.

The Minerals Management Service National Homepage can be found at http://www.mms.gov.  Information for the Environmental Deepwater Workshop has been developed and can be found at http://www.gomr.mms.gov/ then select Environmental Information from the menu.  If you wish to attend the conference, please register by calling the Office of Conference Services with Louisiana State University at (504) 388-6621.  Questions related to the conference should be directed to Debbie Vigil, Minerals Management Service, at (504) 736-2406.