SEG STATEMENT ON PROPOSED INCREASE IN LEASING ON THE OCS

Abstract

This Statement was submitted February 19, 1975 to the Bureau of Land Management by the SEG concerning the hearings on the Proposed Increase in Oil and Gas Leasing on the Outer Continental Shelf: The Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) is a professional and scientific organization of 9000 geophysicists from 100 countries. Two‐thirds of the membership reside in the U.S. Twenty‐four Section organizations are affiliated with SEG; 20 are in the U.S. The SEG is the primary international geophysics professional organization. Its members are engaged in exploration for both petroleum and minerals, involving approximately $1 billion of geophysical surveys worldwide; $390 million of this effort is in the U.S. In the Draft Environmental Statement and at the hearings themselves, several proposals were discussed which would have a detrimental short and long term effect on the vital search for oil and gas in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). In addition, these proposals could seriously impede the present unparalleled advance of technology in geophysical exploration. These undesirable proposals are discussed in the following paragraphs.