An ecological risk assessment using GIS to analyze the impacts of oil and gas production in Galveston Bay, TX
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Abstract
Oil and gas production was examined for the Galveston Bay ecosystem using ARC/INFO to produce maps. Various data sources documenting urbanization and industrialization were overlayed with fish and wildlife resources, habitats and other features in order to estimate impacts. Concern over wetland loss, benthic-bottom disturbances, and sediment contaminant can be quantified on a regional level so as to allow resource managers the faculty to make decisions on a comprehensive basis. Ecological risk assessments of the impact of human development on important natural resources can be developed in a systematic and comparative way. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) offer policymakers and regulatory agencies a means for managing complex and disparate databases through analytical and modeling capabilities. A series of preliminary maps illustrating the risk to natural resources from oil and gas development is presented