Details

Capability: Public Policy Impact Assessment

• North Aleutian Shelf Non-OCS Forecast Analysis. 1982. TR-075. Prepared for the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management. Anchorage, Alaska.

This report provides in-depth analysis of socioeconomic trends in Aleutian Island communities potentially affected by oil and gas industry activities in the Bering Sea – an area rich in offshore petroleum and fishery resources. This early study provided federal analysts with a valid basis for assessing oil and natural gas development scenarios then being considered for the North Aleutian Basin (NAB) planning area, and an historical basis for assessing long-term social and economic change in the region. The NAB was placed under a drilling moratorium in 2010, with offshore oil and gas exploration suspended through 2017.

• Cold Bay: Ethnographic Study and Impact Analysis. 1983. TR-093. Prepared for the U.S. Department of the Interior, Minerals Management Service. Anchorage, Alaska.

IAI’s Technical Report 093 describes social and economic aspects of life in Cold Bay, Alaska as these were observed in the early 1980s. Trends analysis indicated that future economic and population growth would likely remain limited in this remote community, particularly in the absence of OCS development. At the time of the study, Cold Bay was home to just under 200 persons, most of whom were reliant on jobs in the maritime transportation sector. The 1983 forecast has proven to be correct over time; the town was home to only 108 persons in 2010, and economic growth continues to be constrained by its remote location and by limited involvement in the region’s commercial fishing industry.

• Unalaska: Ethnographic Study and Impact Analysis. 1983. TR-092. Prepared for the U.S. Department of the Interior, Minerals Management Service. Anchorage, Alaska.

This report examines Unalaska-Dutch Harbor in relation to prospective offshore oil and gas lease sale activities in the early 1980s. The study was conducted during an initial period of growth in the commercial fishing sector, and prediction of significant fisheries-specific economic expansion and demographic change held true over the subsequent decades. Unalaska-Dutch Harbor leads the nation in the production and processing of seafood, and continues to function as the center of commerce and transportation for this vast maritime region of Alaska.

• Sociocultural/Socioeconomic Organization of Bristol Bay: Regional and Subregional Analyses. 1984. TR-103. Prepared for the U.S. Department of the Interior, Minerals Management Service. Anchorage, Alaska.

The aim of this study was to develop a valid understanding of current conditions and trends in the socioeconomic structure and organization of communities in the Bristol Bay region. Results were intended to serve as a basis for future forecasts and analyses of human-ecological impacts potentially resulting from proposed Lease Sale 92 in the North Aleutian Basin planning area. The study underscored the perennial importance of the salmon harvest to Alaska Native residents and the fact that subsistence economies in the region were becoming increasingly integrated with the market economy. Social and economic aspects of life in Bristol Bay communities remain..

• Workshop Proceedings: Monitoring Sociocultural and Institutional Change in the Aleutian-Pribilof Region. Technical Report 126. 1985. Prepared for the U.S. Department of the Interior, Minerals Management Service. Anchorage, Alaska. 228 pp.

This report summarizes workshops convened by the Minerals Management Service to improve monitoring of OCS-related social change along the coast of Alaska. The meetings resulted in expert deliberation regarding necessary elements of an effective socioeconomic research, assessment, and monitoring program under NEPA. Among other results, participants determined that: measurable indicators of social and economic change are essential for effective impact assessment; key public sector decision-makers, industry representatives, and members of potentially affected communities should be actively involved in the identification of essential monitoring variables, thereby increasing topical salience and validity of measurement; and that regional analysts should continue to address challenges associated with the parsing of background sources of change from changes related to offshore oil and gas development.

• Institutional Change in Nome, 1980-1986. Technical Report 127. 1987. Prepared for the U.S. Department of the Interior, Minerals Management Service. Anchorage, Alaska. 169 pp.

Technical Report 127 provides thorough assessment of social-institutional change in Nome for the period 1980 through 1986. The project was undertaken to develop and test a framework for monitoring social changes related and unrelated to offshore oil and gas development in this and other coastal regions of Alaska. A wide range of social indicators were examined as elements of the framework, including: local demographic conditions, patterns of land use, political control, social organization, economic growth and production, health and social welfare, and education. The work led to an improved understanding of ongoing institutional changes in Alaska communities and how these can be differentiated from potential and actual changes related to large-scale development on the OCS.