As part of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) commitment to acquire and use the highest quality scientific information in its decision making, the bureau has released its FY2024-2025 Studies Development Plan (SDP). The SDP is a key component of BOEM’s rigorous planning, review and procurement process to meet the nation's research needs to inform Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) environmental analyses.
BOEM prepares the annual SDP to cover a two-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 for one successive year. These studies are designed to collect the information necessary to meet the needs of BOEM scientists, rule writers, modelers and decision makers. Proposed studies are evaluated for program relevance, programmatic timeliness and scientific merit.
BOEM’s Meeting with the National Academies
Committee on Offshore Science and Assessment
July 10 and 11, 2023
On July 10 and 11, 2023, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) will host the 23rd meeting of the Standing Committee on Offshore Science and Assessment (COSA) to provide feedback on selected studies from the FY 2024-2025 SDP and commemorate the 50th anniversary of BOEM’s Environmental Studies Program (ESP). The meeting will be held in Washington, DC and is open to media and the public. The Academies require advance registration. Meeting details, including a webcast link for remote attendees, will be available on the NASEM website.
BOEM has selected 10 study profiles to present to COSA:
Alaska OCS Regional Office
- Updating Lower Cook Inlet Seabird Colony Counts
Gulf of Mexico OCS Regional Office
- Gulf Coast Community and Cultural Impact Baselines Survey
Pacific OCS Regional Office
- Pre-development Distribution and Behavior of Key Coastal Cetacean Species Near the Morro Bay Wind Energy Lease Area
Marine Minerals Program
- Coastal Marine and Ecological Classification Standard Application: Offshore Energy and Minerals Development
- Extrapolating Benthic Recovery Estimates Beyond Single-project Constraints
Office of Environmental Programs
- Assessing the Effectiveness of Offshore Wind Lease Sale Stipulations on Improving Engagement
- Evaluating Community Benefit Provisions for Offshore Renewable Energy
- Integrating Dimethyl Sulfide (DMS) Gradients into Dynamic Management to Predict North Atlantic Right Whale Occurrence in the Northeast
Office of Renewable Energy Programs
- Collecting Fishers’ Ecological Knowledge (FEK) for Use in Gulf of Maine Offshore Wind Planning
- Ocean Environmental Monitoring and Sound Propagation Study at Mid-Atlantic Shelfbreak Offshore Wind Area
BOEM consults with 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. BOEM’s ESP develops, funds and manages rigorous scientific research specifically to inform policy decisions on the development of energy and mineral resources on the OCS. Research covers physical oceanography, atmospheric sciences, biology, protected species, social sciences and economics, submerged cultural resources and environmental fates and effects.
-- BOEM --
The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is responsible for America’s offshore energy and mineral resources. The bureau promotes energy independence, environmental protection and economic development through responsible, science-based management of energy and mineral resources on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf.