The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced the launch of the Marine Minerals Information System (MMIS), a tool to assist decision-makers in managing coastal recovery and planning coastal resilience projects.
The release of the MMIS is in line with BOEM’s efforts to build a National Offshore Sand Inventory, providing offshore sediment data including data and information from 30 years of BOEM-funded research and data from more than 40 partner organizations.
The information on offshore sand and gravel covers resources throughout the US Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and Pacific outer continental shelf (OCS).
The goal of the National Offshore Sand Inventory and MMIS is to help to reduce response time in disaster recovery and facilitate long-term planning to strengthen the resilience of coastal communities and infrastructure. Ensuring all parties have access to detailed offshore information is critical to responsible decision-making.
The launch of the MMIS is a tremendous accomplishment for BOEM’s management of offshore mineral resources for the nation…Making this data available through the MMIS is a huge step forward for coastal resilience efforts and disaster relief decision-making. Years of hard work and collaboration have brought it to fruition,
…said BOEM Acting Director Walter Cruickshank.
OCS sand and gravel resources are vital sources of material for the construction of coastal protection and restoration projects, including efforts to protect coastal communities, national defense facilities, and federal and state infrastructure.
In recent years, there has been a growing demand for OCS sediment for planned projects, as well as for emergency needs to restore areas damaged by natural disasters. On a national scale, little is known about the character, quantity, and location of sand resources on the OCS and the habitat it provides for biological communities.
Proponents of planned infrastructure projects are requesting higher volumes of OCS sediment, driven by diminishing resources in state waters and a high frequency of recent storms along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts.
Further, given the significant number of other ocean users (e.g., energy infrastructure, fiber optic telecommunication cables, electrical transmission lines, and fisheries), BOEM strives to reduce or eliminate the potential for multiple use conflicts or environmental impacts that could result from marine minerals projects. This can make it challenging to identify new potential areas from which to borrow or dredge sediment.
