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

MMS & LSU Sponsor Over $22 Million in Coastal Studies, 1992-1998

The U.S. Department of the Interior, Minerals Management Service, Gulf of Mexico OCS Region, and Louisiana State University have released a report on the first six years of their joint Coastal Marine Institute (CMI) cooperative agreement, responsible for over $22 million in scientific studies on 50 projects on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS).

Gulf of Mexico Regional Director Chris Oynes said, "This synopsis of the work in fifty research areas crystallizes the value of the CMI cooperative agreement to MMS and demonstrates the scientific contribution it has made to offshore energy policy.  MMS is pleased with this work by LSU and other institutions and has previously reauthorized the contract for five more years through 2003."

During the first six years, CMI funded 50 projects, employing 64 faculty researchers, 14 postdoctoral associates, 26 doctoral candidates, 22 master’s candidates, and 38 undergraduate students. LSU and MMS have split the $22.72 million cost, 98% of which was spent on the actual studies; only 2% was spent on management costs.  Subject areas included deepwater environmental studies (4 projects at $810,000); social and economic effects and policy (16 projects at $2,225,000); offshore structure ecology (6 projects at $2,807,000); the fates, effects, and bioremediation of chemical usage (13 projects at $2,053,000); and information dissemination (4 projects at $1,325,000).

A cooperative agreement between the State and Minerals Management Service (MMS), a branch of the Department of the Interior, CMI directs the considerable research talents of a major research university towards Federal and State information needs in a State where OCS development of the oil and gas industry is a major endeavor on Federal and State levels.

The CMI partners, MMS and LSU, detail the studies and their findings in a report just released, MMS 2001-062, Management of the MMS—LSU Coastal Marine Institute: A Report of the First Six Years 1992-1998.  The report is available at the MMS Gulf of Mexico OCS Regional Office, 1201 Elmwood Park Blvd., New Orleans, LA 70123, or by telephoning 1-800-200-GULF.

MMS is the Federal Agency in the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages the Nation's oil, natural gas and other mineral resources on the Outer Continental Shelf in Federal offshore waters.  The Agency also collects, accounts for, and disburses mineral revenues from Federal and Indian leases.  These collections totaled nearly $8 billion last year and more than $110 billion since the Agency was created in 1982.  Annually, nearly $1 billion from those revenues go into the Land and Water Conservation Fund for the acquisition and development of state and Federal park and recreation lands.

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MMS's Website Address: http://www.mms.gov