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Captain Corbett. Let me just say that we intend to extend this 

 memorandum of understanding with Interior to other areas of the 

 OCS, including the Baltimore Canyon. That is no excuse for not 

 having done it in the first place, I do not mean to imply it is. There 

 are a number of cleanup activities around the Philadelphia area. 

 They are quite capable in that vicinity, I know that. But where 

 they are located I really could not tell you. 



Mr. Hughes. Why would the Coast Guard be focusing attention 

 on Georges Bank where OCS exploration is just underway and not 

 be focusing attention on those areas that have seen quite a bit of 

 OCS activity? 



Captain Corbett. I will be very direct, Mr. Hughes, the squeak- 

 ing wheel syndrome really applies here. They are getting the oil 

 right now and they have the Georges Bank which is a vast fishing 

 ground. 



Mr. Hughes. I recognize the chairman of this committee is from 

 the Georges Bank area and I am sure he has not been doing any 

 squeaking. Let me just move on to something else. If you will 

 respond to my concern in writing I would appreciate it. 



You indicate in your testimony that by the fall of 1981, 26 

 systems, I assume you are talking about pumping and other sys- 

 tems, will be prepositioned around the country, that is, will be in 

 place. How many systems exist presently. 



Captain Corbett. We have 13 of the skimmers, but we only have 

 4 of those fully equipped with the pumping arrays. It does not 

 mean they cannot be used in concert with some of the other 

 equipment, both we and industry have the wherewithal to remove 

 the oil once it is collected. But these pumping arrays were adjusted 

 as far as their physical makeup because of some of the things we 

 learned at the IXTOC spill. We are moving right along on getting 

 that equipment. Not only will it be available by the fall of 1981, 

 they are going to be coming in in bits and pieces. So our capability 

 will start to improve soon. 



Mr. Hughes. So you have four complete systems, is that what 

 you are saying? 



Captain Corbett. Right. 



Mr. Hughes. How rapidly are we bringing on line new systems? 



Captain Corbett. The barriers are coming along at the rate of 

 about one every 2 weeks right now. The pumping arrays are going 

 to be a little bit slower because of some of these adjustments we 

 found necessary to make resulting from our experience at 

 Campeche. 



Mr. Hughes. Are these systems owned by the Coast Guard? 



Captain Corbett. Yes; they are. 



Mr. Hughes. You indicate there are ultimately to be 11 sites that 

 will have equipment prepositioned. How many sites presently have 

 any prepositioned equipment? 



Captain Corbett. Three, at our strike teams in Hamilton Air 

 Force Base and Bay St. Louis, Miss, and Elizabeth City N.C. 



Mr. Hughes. What if anything is located at the prospective 

 Philadelphia site or is that just a site in name at the present time? 



Captain Corbett. Well, it is a site in name only except that 

 Philadelphia, you know, has historically had a lot of pollution- 



