The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has released its Studies Development Plan (SDP), its roadmap for acquiring the scientific information it uses to make its decisions, for the upcoming fiscal year.
The SDP is a key component of BOEM’s planning, review, and procurement process to meet the nation’s research needs for environmental assessments on the outer continental shelf. BOEM’s Environmental Studies Program (ESP) prepares the annual SDP to cover a 2-year planning period. The plan outlines BOEM’s research priorities and includes brief study profiles that describe proposed studies for the upcoming fiscal year and the successive year. These studies are designed to collect the information necessary to meet the needs of the users, including BOEM scientists, rule writers, modelers, and decision makers. Proposed studies are evaluated for program relevance, programmatic timeliness, and scientific merit.
BOEM maintains a complete description of ongoing BOEM studies by region. Each listing describes the research being conducted; the scientific discipline; the institution performing the work; the cost of the effort; the time frame; and any associated publications, presentations, or affiliated Web sites.
On 7–8 July, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NAS) will hold the 13th meeting of the BOEM Standing Committee on Offshore Science and Assessment (COSA) to showcase and provide feedback on BOEM’s recently released SDP. The meeting will be an online event open to media and the public.
The BOEM has selected the following nine profiles from the SDP to present to COSA:
- A Demographic Analyses Update to “Air Quality Modeling in the Gulf of Mexico Region”
- Bowhead Whale Migration Patterns along the Alaskan Beaufort Shelf During a Period of Rapid Environmental Change
- Coastal and Submerged Historic Properties and Precontact Sites on the Alaska Outer Continental Shelf
- Bioenergetic Model for North Atlantic Right Whales
- Environmental and Human Exposure to Technologically Enhanced Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials Associated with Oil and Gas Activities in the Outer Continental Shelf
- Facilitating Strategic Partnerships in Support of the Presidential Memo on Ocean Mapping, Exploration, and Characterization
- Socioeconomic Impacts Likely to Result From Initial Oil and Gas Projects in Frontier Areas
- Application of a Morphodynamic Model To Assist in Planning the Long-term Restoration and Maintenance of the Louisiana Barrier Island System
- Shallow-Water Geophysical Mapping by Autonomous Underwater Vehicles: Feasibility Assessment, Field Testing, and Best Practice
The BOEM consults with the COSA as a source of independent, scientifically credible, and objective information on topics of interest for the environmental studies and assessment activities. Collectively, these inputs contribute to the development of research plans.
The BOEM’s ESP develops, funds, and manages scientific research specifically to inform policy decisions on the development of energy and mineral resources on the outer continental shelf. Research covers physical oceanography, atmospheric sciences, biology, protected species, social sciences and economics, submerged cultural resources, and environmental fates and effects.