115 



Captain Corbett. There I would ask to respond in writing. We 

 are talking about dollars and cents now. 



Mr. Studds. All right. Mr. Pritchard. 



Mr. Pritchard. No more questions. 



Mr. Studds. Thank you Captain. I do not know whether you 

 want to add generalization in response to my opening generaliza- 

 tion. I have to commend you for being as straight forward and 

 explicit and frank in its caviats about the modesty of our capabili- 

 ty. I think that is to the good. We need to know. No problem is 

 going to be solved by pretending it does not exist or less severe 

 than in fact it is. Mr. Wyatt is gone, but it is obvious what he was 

 trying to get you to say. Even if you are from Oklahoma, I appreci- 

 ate the calmness of your response. He did not ask you prior to the 

 incident in Chicago when the last DC-10 crash was. These are the 

 kinds of things that mandate prudent people to proceed with ex- 

 treme caution sometimes, given the magnitude of the resources at 

 risk. Is there an3rthing else you would like to add? I appreciate 

 your own patience, and testimony in putting up with all the mem- 

 bers of this committee including me. 



Captain Corbett. No, sir. Only I have known Mr. Wyatt for 

 sometime and I am sorry I had to disappoint him. 



Mr. Studds. You were at that hearing in Corpus Christi where 

 his own fishermen were saying the most unkind things about the 

 oil industry. 



Captain Corbett. I appreciate the opportunity to be here and I 

 have enjoyed it. Thank you. 



Mr. Studds. Thank you. Now we have the Environmental Protec- 

 tion Agency. R. Sarah Compton, Deputy Assistant Administrator, 

 Office of Water Enforcement, Environmental Protection Agency. 



STATEMENT OF R. SARAH COMPTON, DEPUTY ASSISTANT AD- 

 MINISTRATOR, OFFICE OF WATER ENFORCEMENT, ENVIRON- 

 MENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY 



Ms. Compton. Good morning. 



Mr. Studds. Good morning. 



Ms. Compton. Did you want to make another statement before I 

 begin? 



Mr. Studds. I will do my best to refrain from making any state- 

 ments until you have completed your testimony. I notice you have 

 about 11 pages, feel free if you wish to summarize it, however you 

 want to proceed. In any event it will appear in its entirety in the 

 record. 



Ms. Compton. Thank you. I am pleased to be here today to 

 discuss the authorities and responsibilities of the Environmental 

 Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate effluent discharges associated 

 with offshore oil and gas exploration and production on the Outer 

 Continental Shelf (OCS). Dr. Suzanne Bolton, a marine biologist in 

 our Ocean Programs Office is here with me today. As I will discuss 

 in more detail later, EPA regulates these pollutants from OCS 

 facilities pursuant to the Clean Water Act's national pollutant 

 discharge elimination system (NPDES) permit program. This 

 NPDES permit program is an important mechanism for insuring 

 that the effluents associated with offshore oil and gas operations 

 are discharged in an environmentally sound manner. However, just 



