Environmental Studies Planning

Applied Science for Informed Decision Making

BOEM must comply with numerous environmental statutes, regulations, and executive orders to carry out its mission. BOEM is dedicated to acquiring and using the highest quality, scientific information in support of Bureau decisions. To that end, the Environmental Studies Program (ESP) employees a rigorous planning, review and procurement process to meet the nation’s environmental research needs for Outer Continental Shelf resource assessments.

The ESP in Headquarters and Regional program offices prepare the annual Studies Development Plans (SDP) to cover a three-year planning period. The plan includes brief study descriptions or profiles that describe proposed studies for the upcoming fiscal year and for two successive years. 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. Additional program oversight is provided by the OCS Scientific Committee, which advises BOEM on the feasibility, appropriateness, and scientific value of proposed research topics. Collectively, these inputs contribute to the development of research plans.

While the SDP serves a primarily internal planning function, it is a publicly available document and is used to communicate the proposed studies both internally within BOEM and externally with potential partners and other interested parties. The SDP and resulting studies undergo peer review at several stages to ensure the quality of the work proposed. When completed, the annual SDP forms the basis for the National Studies List (NSL).

To formulate the NSL, the offices in each Region and Headquarters develop a priority order for the many studies proposed in their SDP's. These lists are evaluated again by Headquarters, principally considering program relevance, timing, and budgetary constraints. Discussions are conducted with each of the program offices and when consensus is achieved, the NSL is recommended for approval. Once the annual appropriations for the Department have been approved, studies on the NSL are procured via competitive procurements, cooperative agreements with a State institution or university, or through inter/intra agency agreements with other Federal agencies.

It is important to note that the NSL is subject to change throughout the course of the year as conditions warrant and due to budgetary constraints.

The Environmental Studies Program (ESP) anticipates pursuing awards in Fiscal year 2013 for projects encompassing all scientific disciplines and on all coasts of the United States, listed in the following table. The information in this table is for planning purposes only and all awards are subject to change and availability of funds. As individual project announcements become available, the Study Titles will be linked to the appropriate website for application or proposal information:

FY 2013 New Starts Planned for the Environmental Studies Program
Region	Study Title	Tentative Funding Mechanism
Alaska	ANIMIDA III: Contaminants, Sources, and Bioaccumulation	Contract
Alaska	Arctic Air Quality Impact Assessment Modeling	Contract
Alaska	Enhanced Interpretation of Arctic Ice Formation, Distribution, and Density	Contract
Alaska	Ice Seal Movements and Foraging: Village-based Satellite Tracking and Acoustic Monitoring of Ringed, Bearded, and Spotted Seals	Contract
Alaska	Applications for Mapping Spilled Oil in Arctic Waters	Cooperative Agreement
Alaska	Chukchi Acoustic, Oceanography and Zooplankton Study: Hanna Shoal (Extension of CHAOZ)	Intra/Inter-Agency Agreement
Alaska	Support for the 2012 United States-Canada Northern Oil and Gas Research Forum	Intra/Inter-Agency Agreement
Atlantic	Atlantic OCS Cultural Resources Survey and Archaeological Inventory Geographic Information System	Contract
Atlantic	Effects of EMF from a High Voltage Direct Current 640kv Transmission Lines and AC/DC Transformer Substations on Marine Species, Radar, and Marine Vessel Radio	Contract
Atlantic	Development of a Historic Context for Shipwrecks Located on the OCS Offshore the Mid-Atlantic Using a Cultural Landscape Framework	Cooperative Agreement
Atlantic	Fishery Physical Habitat and Epibenthic Invertebrate Baseline Data Collection	Intra/Inter-Agency Agreement
Atlantic	Integrative Statistical Modeling and Predictive Mapping of Seabird Distribution and Abundance on the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf	Intra/Inter-Agency Agreement
Atlantic	Pilot Study: Tracking Offshore Occurrence of Common Terns and American Oystercatchers with VHF Arrays	Intra/Inter-Agency Agreement
Gulf of Mexico	An Analysis of the Impacts of the Deepwater Horizon on the Seafood Industry	Contract
Gulf of Mexico	NAAQS Exemption Level Study	Contract
Gulf of Mexico	Year 2014 Gulfwide Emissions Inventory Study	Contract
Gulf of Mexico	Enhancing the Capability of a New Meteorological Model for Air Quality and Other BOEM Applications in the Gulf of Mexico	Cooperative Agreement
Gulf of Mexico	Florida Manatee Movement and Habitat Use in the Northern Gulf of Mexico	Intra/Inter-Agency Agreement
Gulf of Mexico	Pressure Wave and Acoustic Properties Generated by the Explosive Removal of Offshore Structures: Potential Effects on Protected Species	Intra/Inter-Agency Agreement
Gulf of Mexico	A Comparative Analysis of an Oil Spill on Biota Inhabiting Several Gulf of Mexico Shipwrecks Spanning the 19th to 20th Centuries	Undetermined
National	Expanded Nation-Wide Scope for Archiving of Outer Continental Shelf Invertebrates by the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History	Contract
National	Improving Oil-Spill Risk Analysis in the Gulf of Mexico: A Multi-Model Approach	Contract
National	Improving Oil-Spill Risk Analysis in the Gulf of Mexico: A Multi-Model Approach - Part C	Contract
National	COSEE Support to the Environmental Studies Program’s Education and Outreach Efforts	Cooperative Agreement
National	Second Meeting of Marine Mammals and Sound Stakeholder Working Group	Undetermined
National	Support for the National Ocean Sciences Bowl (NOPP)	Undetermined
National/Alaska	Marine Arctic Ecosystems Study: A Multi-Agency NOPP Partnership	Undetermined
Pacific	Understanding the Role of Offshore Structures in Managing Potential Watersipora subtorquata Invasions	Cooperative Agreement
Pacific	A Marine Biogeographic Assessment of the Main Hawaiian Islands	Intra/Inter-Agency Agreement
Pacific	Habitat Affinities and At-Sea Ranging Behaviors among Main Hawaiian Island Seabirds	Intra/Inter-Agency Agreement
Pacific	Inventory and Analysis of Coastal and Submerged Archaeological Site Occurrence near the Main Hawaiian Islands	Intra/Inter-Agency Agreement
Pacific	Using Ongoing Activities as Surrogates to Predict Potential Ecological Impacts from Marine Renewable Energy	Undetermined