425 



Mr. Danenberger. Right. 



Mr. D' Amours. Off Maryland. The deepest exploration drilling 

 ever done. Is interior or the task force — and I will expand this to 

 you, Mr. Beller — doing any kind of studying and monitoring now at 

 the site of that drilling which might help the task force later on in 

 the Georges Bank area? 



Mr. Danenberger. Well, we are doing very detailed operational 

 monitoring, because this, as you said, will be a record water depth 

 well by over a 1,000 feet. In the Atlantic we have had a lot of time 

 to concentrate on this proposed operation. So we have been spend- 

 ing a lot of time on the operational aspects. 



As far as the environmental aspects of the operation, Shell is 

 going to be doing some current profiling. One of the concerns 

 within the industry and within the Department of the Interior are 

 the Gulf Stream rings. They are warm core rings that could cause 

 currents of approximately two knots in the drilling area, which is 

 not very likely where Shell is, but could be in other areas. It will 

 be useful to profile some of these warm core rings and see how the 

 current patterns vary, since they can have a significant influence 

 on the operation. 



I think there is also some planning underway to do some actual 

 site monitoring on one of the Shell wells. It is a several-well pro- 

 gram which the first well starting in July. In addition, I think 

 there are some plans being made to do some bottom sampling in 

 the area but I have no firm information on that. 



Mr. D' Amours. You say there are some plans being concocted to 

 monitor specific site activity on drilling that is going to begin in 

 July. Wouldn't it be very helpful to get in there early, get some 

 baseline data, rather than leaving that environmental work up to 

 the Shell Oil Co.? 



Mr. Danenberger. Well, this work would be done by the Depart- 

 ment. The only work Shell will be doing 



Mr. D' Amours. Which work? 



Mr. Danenberger. If there are in fact environmental studies. 



Mr. D' Amours. The work that is planned? 



Mr. Danenberger. Right. 



Mr. D' Amours. But the only work we know is going to be per- 

 formed at the site is going to be performed by Shell Oil Co.? 



Mr. Danenberger. Right. At this point. 



Mr. D' Amours. Why wouldn't Interior get in there? 



Mr. Danenberger. There are plans to get in. 



Mr. D' Amours. Plans to get in is one thing. I don't want to ha- 

 rangue you, but it is a little frustrating. Why won't the Depart- 

 ment of the Interior, whose job it is to check these things, get in 

 there, rather than say "Shell, you can check this for us and let us 

 know what you found out before you begin to drill." 



Mr. Danenberger. There is no real strong reason to believe 

 there are going to be effects in deep water based on the studies 

 that have been done in the shallow area. I think that the feeling, 

 the predominant feeling, is that there would be greater dilution, 

 less effect in the deep water. But I think, because of the tremen- 

 dous interest in deep water activities in the future, that there are 

 plans being made for some sort of a program down there. I don't 

 have the details at this point. 



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