348 



monitoring the fates of the drilling fluids and cuttings, and also the 

 effects of these discharges on the benthic animals. Because the currents 

 move generally toward the southwest along the southern flank of Georges 

 Bank, the program established three sets of stations: one set is 

 "upstream" of the Lease Sale area, the second at the area, and the third 

 "downstream." These are Transects I, II and III, respectively. 



In effect. Transect I can act as a control against which the fates 

 and effects of the discharges encountered at the other two transects can 

 be compared. The program also includes areas where the discharges might 

 possibly accumulate or cause undue harm. In the first category is the 

 "Mud Patch," Station 13; and in the second, the heads of Lydonia and 

 Oceanographer Canyons. 



While the foregoing arrangement was designed to derive regional or 

 long-term information, the "target" arrangement of stations shown in 

 Figure 3 was designed to acquire short-term data in the vicinity of a 

 drilling platform. Here, 29 monitoring stations are arranged in five 

 circular arrays, the outermost lying six kilometers from the "bull's 

 eye." Mobil Oil Company's platform at Block 312 at Station 5 is the 

 bull's eye. Drilling started there on December 8, 1981, and continued 

 until June, 1982. 



