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developed and recommended a monitoring plan that rivaled earlier BLM 

 baseline studies in its scope. After becoming more fully aware of the 

 magnitude and range of the BLM studies, the BTF, with the help of the 

 DOI Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC), developed new objectives for 

 the program and a sharper-, more directed studies plan resulted which 

 was approved as the Georges Bank Monitoring program (GBMP) in April 198I. 



It was this Administration that accepted the recommended plan and 

 immediately began funding and implementation so that environmental 

 information could be obtained prior to exploration drilling. In essence, 

 the GBMP attempts to track the fate of discharged drilling materials, and 

 to determine if they have any effects on bottom communities, where these 

 materials would be expected to accumulate. To do this, scientists 

 collect organisms and sediments seasonally and analyze them for 

 accumulations of the trace metal components of drilling muds, and for 

 hydrocarbons. Samples are collected at regional stations in order to 

 detect long-term accumulations, and in a -dense pattern around a formerly 

 active drill site. There are three separate groups of scientists 



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