The Minerals Management Service (MMS) of the U.S. Department of the Interior engaged Dornbusch to develop and apply a methodology to link Outer Continental Shelf OCS development to the effects on recreational resources, their use, and the consequent change in local tourist economies. Since such development is expected to have a significant impact on coastal recreation and tourism, MMS was also given responsibility for providing information from which development decisions could be made to balance national energy resource development objectives with local environmental and economic concerns.
Tasks included:
- The purpose of this study was to:
- Select or develop new methods to link the influence of OCS oil and gas development to recreation and tourism impacts;
- Compile the data needed to implement the methods in California;
- Develop a model to estimate the expected impacts for the range of possible OCS oil and gas developments and consequences as they might affect recreation and tourism;
- Program the model onto a computer system and test the computer model using representative case studies; and
- Transfer the working methodology and model to MMS and staff in its use.