55 



Mr. Arnold B. Joseph, Environmental Sciences Brancli, Atomic Energy Com- 

 mission, Washington, D.O. 



Mr. C. B. Kelly, Chief, Research & Development, Water Supply and Resources 

 Program, Public Health Service, Department of Health, Education and Welfare, 

 Washington, D.C. 



Mr. Bill Long, Science Information Exchange, Smithsonian Institution, Wash- 

 ington, D.C. 



Captain T. K. Treadwell, UjS. Naval Oceanographic Oflace, Department of the 

 Navy, Washington, D.C. 



Dr. James I. Vette, Goddard Space Flight Center, National Aeronautics and 

 Space Administration, Greenbelt, Maryland. 



OBSERVERS 



Colonel Andrew Aines, Office of Science and Technology, Washington, D.C. 



Dr. Thomas Austin, Director, National Oceanographic Data Center, Washing- 

 ton, D.C. 



Dr. James I. Vette, Goddard Space Flight Center, National Aeronautics and 

 ington, D.C. 



Mr. Drewry. One other thing. Back around the 16th or 17th cen- 

 tury, durmg- the Spanish control of Central and South America in the 

 early days there was a proposal to dig a canal across the isthmus. The 

 subject got up into the hierarchy of the church. The Pope is reported 

 to have said, "N"o; you can't do it because what God has joined, let not 

 man put asunder." 



So it was abandoned for quite a while thereafter. 



Perhaps it has not yet been put asunder because of this lock-type 

 system. Now there is serious consideration being given and studies 

 being made by a Presidential Commission of the matter of a sea-level 

 canal dug, perhaps, by nuclear means. 



What I am interested in knowing is whether your group has ad- 

 dressed itself to the extent of any ecological programs or studies that 

 are being made that would determine what the effect of this "sunder- 

 ing," when it takes place, might be. 



Here is a land bridge many, many millions of years old, separating 

 two oceans, one of which has 20 feet of tide and one with li/^ feet. In 

 addition to the matter of radiation pollution there is the question of 

 the flow of water through there, the infusion of species from one ocean 

 to another, the effect it might have on others, possibly even some cli- 

 matic changes just by this. 



I have heard concern expressed that though studies are being made, 

 the extent of the potential damage from this vast project was not being 

 looked at on a very broad scale. I wondered whether the Council had 

 made any inquiry into the extent to which this is being done and who 

 is in it, because I know that some studies are being made of the atmos- 

 phere, and the rainfall and some geophysical work is being done, but 

 whether the type of thing that went into, for example, the Cape 

 Thompson effort up in Alaska has been gone into, I don't know. I don't 

 think it has. 



Dr. Wenk. There has been no study as effective as the Cape Thomp- 

 son study. That is true. 



Our Council has not looked at this issue. We are aware of the Presi- 

 dential Commission that has this responsibility in making recommen- 

 dations. We are also aware of the ecological problems that could arise 

 tliat you suggested. We have not taken this as an agenda item before 

 the Council. 



