Minerals Management Service (MMS) has signed a 1-year cooperative
agreement with the University of Alabama, Huntsville that will improve
meteorological air quality models that assess atmospheric conditions
in the Gulf of Mexico. These models will assist researchers in their
future findings relating to various characteristics of the atmosphere.
The $114,000 partnership between MMS and UAH seeks to improve air
quality models that are tools used to assess meteorological and air
quality conditions, as a result make informed decisions regarding air
pollution controls.
Chris Oynes, Regional Director of the Gulf of Mexico Region, MMS,
stated that “Changes in the quality of our air may not cause
noticeable effects for decades; consequently the improvements in
creating air quality models obtained from this cooperative agreement
will assist researchers in studying the effects of various emissions
released into the atmosphere.” Even more, as a result of these
studies, future air quality modeling planned by the States and
National Regional Planning Organizations, responsible for State
Implementation Plans (SIP’s) will also benefit from this partnership.
For twenty years UAH has been a leader in developing modeling
techniques for using satellite data and has a significant history in
carrying out atmospheric science investigations in air quality. Much
of this research has been in partnership with NASA’s Marshall Space
Flight Center Earth Science Department in the National Space Science
and Technology Center (NSSTC) Huntsville, Alabama.
The Minerals Management Service is the federal agency in the U.S.
Department of the Interior that manages the nation’s oil, natural gas,
and other mineral resources on the Outer Continental Shelf in federal
offshore waters. The agency also collects, accounts for, and disburses
mineral revenues from Federal and American Indian lands. MMS disbursed
more than $8 billion in fiscal year 2003 and more than $135
billion since the agency was created in 1982. Nearly $1 billion from
those revenues go into the Land and Water Conservation Fund annually
for the acquisition and development of state and Federal
park and recreation lands.