443 



cause for optimism that oil and gas operations can safely coexist 

 with the fisheries of Georges Bank, at least from the point of 

 view of routine discharges. 



In sum, I believe the Task Force has been made a major 

 contribution in the areas of interagency coordination, support of 

 regulatory decisions, providing a forum for public involvement, 

 and in establishing a credible and well run scientific monitoring 

 program whose results will contribute significantly to our 

 understanding of the effects of oil and gas operations on the 

 marine environment. 



These successes must not, however, be taken as evidence that 

 OCS oil and gas activity can now proceed on a full speed ahead 

 basis. The success has not been achieved without difficulty, and 

 the entire approach taken by Task Force to date must be 

 reexamined in light of forthcoming issues. 



A first order of business for the Task Force as the results 

 of the monitoring porgram are reported is to evaluate those 

 results and make recommendations to the Department of the 

 Interior and, if appropriate, to the other federal agencies 

 involved concerning the implications of those results for future 

 management decisions. 



It should be emphasized that the Task Force has a specific 

 charge in its charter to make recommendations on the management 

 aspects of oil and gas which may affect biological resources. 

 The Task Force has not made such recommendations in the absence 

 of the information which the monitoring program was designed to 

 provide. But these matters can no longer be avoided. For 

 example, priority consideration will have to be given to the 

 implications of the results of the monitoring program for 

 continuation of the special discharge limitations which EPA 

 imposed on drilling in the first round of permitting. 



The Task Force must also consider the need to modify the 

 existing experimental design in light of the results obtained. 

 Discussions have already begun on this point, and I expect 

 substantial additional consideration will be necessary. 



As we look to future lease sales in the area, new issues 

 arise. Foremost among these are the issues surrounding deepwater 

 drilling. We do not have any where near the depth of information 

 on the area of the North Atlantic Continental Slope that we have 

 on the Continental Shelf, and so we will not have the same 

 ability to design a monitoring program tailored to the specific 

 environment of the region that we did with the first monitoring 

 program 



