This publication summarizes proceedings of a workshop initiated in response to recommendations from the 1997 Terra Nova Environmental Assessment Panel on the need to address cumulative effects of offshore oil & gas development. Topics of presentations include the east coast offshore context of hydrocarbon development, prediction & verification of offshore oil & gas effects, cumulative effects assessment & monitoring approaches, lessons from cumulative effects assessment & monitoring in the Gulf of Mexico and North Sea, designing cumulative effects monitoring programs, the potential for cumulative effects off the east coast, contributors to offshore cumulative effects, how cumulative effects should be monitored, and who should do the assessment & monitoring. The appendix includes an excerpt from the Terra Nova Panel report.

This is the first book in the petroleum sector that sheds light on the real obstacles to sustainable development and provides solutions to each problem encountered. Each solution is complete with an economic analysis that clarifies why petroleum operations can continue with even greater profit than before while ensuring that the negative environmental impact is diminished. The new screening tools and models proposed in this book will provide one with proper guidelines to achieve true sustainability in both technology development and management of the petroleum sector.

The word 'sustainability' is frequently misunderstood because there are numerous definitions of sustainability and not even two definitions have converging meanings. Instead of achieving 'sustainability', some of the sustainable development projects aggravate ecological and other problems, as painfully evidenced in numerous experimental projects. This book attempts to improve our understanding of what it means to be sustainable by exploring several different sustainability projects and techniques.

Determines the extent to which the science of ecology can contribute to design and conduct of environmental impact assessment studies and recommends ways this can be achieved. Aimed at Canadian federal and provincial agencies.