Subject: oil/gas & marine mammals

Dagmar Fertl (Dagmar_Fertl@mms.gov)
Thu, 12 Feb 1998 09:49:14 -0500 

     Dear Nigel,
     
     As you are probably aware, your question is quite complex. Various 
     marine resources are protected by a various laws including the 
     Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act.  Before 
     oil/gas drilling may occur, under the National Environmental 
     Protection Act (NEPA), an environmental impact statement (EIS) must be 
     written.  The MMS' EIS's are huge volumes that list out the various 
     impact producing factors and their potential impact on the resources, 
     including an analyst's (an expert on that resource) opinon as to the 
     impact of the proposed action.  I think your question would best be 
     answered by turning to an EIS.  If you send me your address, I can put 
     one of our latest EIS's in the mail, or your local library (and 
     university library) will have access to them.  When I write my 
     sections, I have to consider impact producing factors from the oil/gas 
     industry like noise from helicopter and vessel traffic, operating 
     platforms, and drillships; seismic surveys; explosive platform 
     removals; oil spills; oil-spill response activities; discarded debris 
     from service vessels and structures; anddegradation of water quality 
     from operational discharges.  If for some reason, it was deemed that 
     oil/gas drilling was threatening the survival of marine mammals in the 
     Gulf, then action could be taken to stop the activity.  The U.S. 
     Marine Mammal Commission reads environmental impact statements and 
     provides lengthy comments on them which we must respond to.
     
     Since you are in an anthropology class, doing this project, you might 
     best contact the anthropologist in our section:  Claudia Rogers.  Her 
     email would be:
     
     Claudia_Rogers@mms.gov
     
     I hope this will be of some assistance to you,
     
     Dagmar


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: regards to oil and gas dangers to mammals and fish in gulf
Author:  NRud106080@aol.com at ~smtp
Date:    2/11/98 2:36 PM


Dear Ms. Fertl,
          I am a student at the University of West Florida. My class in
applied anthropology, is curently working on a project to examine public 
opinion on offshore drilling in the gulf. I am quite interested in your 
opinion on the damage to natural resources by the presence of gas and oils 
rigs offshore. I would appreciate any information you could give me in regards 
to the dangers of offshore rigs on fish an mammal species in the gulf.
     
                                                           thanks for you
help,
     
Nigel Rudolph
     
mork20@Juno.com