OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF DRILLING 

 ACTIVITIES OVERSIGHT 



TUESDAY, AUGUST 26, 1980 



House of Representatives, 

 Subcommittee on Oceanography, 

 Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, 



Washington, D.C. 



The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice at 10 a.m., in room 

 1334, Longworth House Office Building, Hon. Gerry Studds presid- 

 ing. 



Present: Representatives Studds, Hughes, Breaux, Wyatt, 

 Pritchard, and Carney. 



Also Present: Richard Norling, Don Lippincott and Diane Hull, 

 Subcommittee on Oceanography majority staff; Curt Marshall, Sub- 

 committee on Oceanography minority staff; Wayne Smith, Subcom- 

 mittee on Fisheries and Wildlife majority staff; and Dan Panshin, 

 Subcommittee on Maritime Education. 



Mr. Studds. The subcommittee will come to order. The subcom- 

 mittee meets today to receive testimony from two Government 

 agencies concerning environmental problems associated with oil 

 and gas drilling activities on the Outer Continental Shelf. 



Specifically, we have asked the Coast Guard to provide testimony 

 concerning the present availability and capability of oil spill con- 

 tainment and cleanup equipment and technological improvements 

 which might be expected in this equipment in the foreseeable 

 future. 



In part II of this hearing, we will receive testimony from the 

 Environmental Protection Agency concerning its policy in granting 

 discharge permits for materials used in, or incidental to, offshore 

 drilling. 



Both agencies bear particularly heavy responsibilities as frontier 

 areas in the North Atlantic and along the Alaskan coast are 

 opened to oil and gas development. Both areas contain some of the 

 most productive fishing grounds in the world which not only make 

 a significant contribution to our economy and the world protein 

 supply, but having been harvested continually by generations of 

 American fishermen, now form an important part of our national 

 heritage. 



Whether or not that heritage continues beyond this generation 

 will, in no small part, be determined by how well these two agen- 

 cies carry out their environmental mandates. 



Insofar as the Congress has provided those mandates through 

 various pieces of legislation, it is the responsibility of the Congress 

 to see that its wishes are heeded and that the resources provided 

 are adequate to the task. 



(95) 



