Offshore Oildom by Tyler Priest

Author:Tyler Priest
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780807186855
Publisher: LSU Press
Published: 2026-05-15T00:00:00+00:00

The quest for energy security had long shaped presidential and congressional policymaking in the United States. In trying to meet rising demand during the 1960s, U.S. oil producers had run out of reserve capacity, which in the past had given the United States the freedom of action to manage oil supply crises. At the same time, the major oil companies were losing control of their valuable concessions in the Persian Gulf, which now supplied the lion’s share of the world’s oil. This epic transformation in the global oil system launched the federal government on a decades-long drive for “energy independence,” as every president since Richard Nixon has framed federal energy priorities. For Nixon and most of his White House successors, extracting more oil and gas from the OCS offered the most viable option for achieving supply independence.

Even so, the political impediments to expanding America’s offshore oildom were as formidable as the technological ones. Venturing deeper and wider into the ocean for oil and gas under Nixon’s plan required navigating four overlapping, intersecting, and sometimes countervailing currents. First were the soaring concerns among coastal populations about the environmental risks of offshore development awakened by the Santa Barbara blowout. Second was the pressing task to finalize marine boundaries between state and federal waters and at the seaward limit of national jurisdiction, in order to secure massive investments offshore. Third were the designs of the State of Louisiana to capture a share of ballooning federal OCS revenues. And fourth was the new bureaucratic burden placed on federal officials who were already struggling to right the power imbalance vis-à-vis the industry in governing the OCS.

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