126 



Mr. Pritchard. I see. 



Ms. CoMPTON. One option is to allow them to discharge during 

 that 1 year and for us to monitor the amounts, the discharge, the 

 concentrations and also to monitor the data and effects, in other 

 words, the dispersion, where the muds go, what effects they have 

 during that year and follow up with a subsequent year of monitor- 

 ing to determine the long-term effects. That is one option we may 

 choose. Or we may choose to, as I said before, not permit any 

 discharge. 



Mr. Pritchard. All right. I have no further questions, Mr. Chair- 

 man. 



Mr. Studds. Mr. Breaux. 



Mr. Breaux. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you Ms. Compton 

 for your testimony. It is unfortunate that having been here only 3 

 months I guess you are involved in such detailed questioning about 

 the in's and outs of some very technical subjects. 



Just out of curiosity, what were you doing before you became 

 involved in this mess? 



Ms. Compton. I was the Enforcement Director in EPA's Philadel- 

 phia office. 



Mr. Breaux. I sometimes get the impression that this whole area 

 of offshore drilling is such a novel type of program that we do not 

 know an3i:hing about it, we have never studied it, we do not know 

 the effects of it. When in truth and in fact that is really not 

 correct. There are numerous studies, are there not, that really go 

 into very scientific consideration of the effects of the offshore oil 

 and gas industry. Is that correct? We cannot say that we have been 

 having it for 30 years and we really do not have any studies 

 associated with the potential adverse effects of offshore drilling, 

 can we? 



Ms. Compton. I would like Dr. Bolton to address that in more 

 detail. I know my impression in making some decisions on these 

 permits has been that the results of the studies, although they are 

 numerous, are conflicting. That is one reason why we feel we need 

 more data, is because the results of the various studies are not 

 conclusive. Although I agree with you they are extensive on some 

 subjects such as coral reefs, particularly the impact of pollution on 

 coral reefs. 



Mr. Breaux. I am pleased we are giving a great deal of attention 

 to the Georges Banks area, as chairman of the Fisheries Subcom- 

 mittee it is in fact one of the most valuable fisheries in the world. 

 But the district I represent has been having offshore drilling for 25, 

 30 years. No one at any level, has ever said, hey it is really a 

 problem. Has not EPA been looking at what has been happening in 

 the gulf for 25 years? 



Ms. Compton. Again Dr. Bolton may be able to give you more 

 detail. But we do not have baseline studies of what the gulf looked 

 like before the drilling began. So it is difficult to assess the impact 

 of the drilling. Another thing I have been advised in spite of 

 increased technology with respect to fishing we have not increased 

 our catches in the Gulf of Mexico. I do not know whether that is 

 significant. 



Mr. Breaux. Run that by me again. 



Ms. Compton. I have been advised that 



