STATEMENT BY J. DAN SKELTON BEFORE THE SENATE COMMITTEES ON INTERIOR AND INSULAR AFFAIRS AND COMMERCE, APRIL 8, 1975

Abstract

I am J. Dan Skelton, President of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists. The Society of Exploration Geophysicists, or SEG, is a professional and scientific organization of 9000 geophysicists from 100 countries. Two‐thirds of our members reside in the U.S. We have 24 affiliated sections: 20 of these are in this country. Members of the SEG carry out, worldwide, $1 billion of geophysical exploration annually. Forty percent of this effort is in the United States. Two‐thirds of our work in this country concerns the highly important offshore areas. Our members are this country’s primary manpower and technology resource so vital in our search for new energy sources. Our Society is the primary international professional organization of geophysicists. Geophysical exploration involves the examination and measurement of the earth’s structure and composition in the search for minerals and energy. In carrying out this work, the full scope of physical sciences is involved, and our members have technical expertise ranging from geology to physics, mathematics, and most branches of engineering. Forty percent of our membership are associated with petroleum companies, 20 percent with private geophysical contractors, 20 percent with mining and engineering companies, and 20 percent hold academic and governmental positions. Nearly all of the geophysical data gathered on the U.S. OCS is collected by the geophysical contractors, while nearly all the management of the surveys and interpretation of the data is by oil company geophysicists. Let me begin by solving that the SEG strongly endorses the objectives of the three main bills being discussed in these hearings—S-426, S-521, and S-740. Section 102 of S-521 summarizes these goals.