437 



cial biological significance, mitigating measures, and scientific stud- 

 ies. 



It is important that the Georges Bank BTF become involved in 

 prelease decisionmaking. 



Mr. D' Amours. Thank you, Ms. Hughes. 



We will now hear from the State of Maine, Mr. Colgan. 



STATEMENT OF CHARLES S. COLGAN 



Mr. Colgan. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



I am Charles Colgan, senior economist with the Maine State 

 planning office. I am also director of Maine's OCS policy program. 



I want to express my own and the Governor's appreciation to you 

 for this opportunity. I think it is a good time to review the task 

 force's work to date and the work it has to do in the future. 



For my contribution, I would like to briefly review what I think 

 are some of the successes and problems which we in Maine, as reg- 

 ular but nonvoting members of the task force, have perceived in 

 our participation. 



Let me start with the successes, which I think have been numer- 

 ous and substantial. 



I think you have to look at the purposes of the task force; not the 

 goals or the statement of purpose in the charter, but the back- 

 ground reasons for which the task force was formed. 



In the beginning, the task force had two major purposes: One 

 was to quiet the controversy surrounding the withdrawal of 

 Georges Bank from consideration as a marine sanctuary, which oc- 

 cured as part of the sale 42 presale decisionmaking. Let me come 

 back at the end to the question of whether the task force has suc- 

 ceeded in that. 



The other purpose of the task force was to serve as a coordinat- 

 ing agency between those Federal agencies directly involved in 

 OSC leasing and management. This coordinating or consultative 

 role is particularly important in OCS management because of the 

 way the Federal Government is structured for OCS decisions. 



There is one agency, the Department of Interior, with oil and gas 

 authority and regular secretarial attention to that issue; and there 

 is another agency, the National Marine Fisheries Service, which is 

 an agency that is not in the mainstream of its own umbrella orga- 

 nization, the Department of Commerce. So I think it is very impor- 

 tant that these kinds of technical level coordinating and consulta- 

 tive roles be set up and be regularly mantained. 



The North Atlantic Biological Task Force was one of a number of 

 task forces around the country. It differs in its formal structure 

 and charter, which was a result of the controversy surrounding its 

 creation. 



This coordinating and consultative role I think has been very 

 successful. For evidence of that success you can point to the EPA 

 permitting that took place for the sale 42 tracts. The EPA permits 

 were issued as conditional permits, conditional upon the studies 

 suggested by the task force. This was because the state of knowl- 

 edge about the fate and effects of drilling muds at the time was in- 

 sufficient for EPA to make a determination whether drilling dis- 

 charges would or would not have an effect on the environment. 



