474 



lowed to stray off into areas that are relatively worthless from an 

 oil and gas sense on the basis any known information, but that will 

 eat up a lot of everyone's time in dealing with them. 



I am thinking specifically of the areas close into shore in New 

 England and in the Gulf of Maine. 



Mr. D'Amours. Thank you very much. 



Our last panel is Ms. Priscilla Chapman, executive director, New 

 England chapter, Sierra Club; Ms. Kelly Rigg, national Outer Con- 

 tinental Shelf campaign coordinator, Greenpeace; and Dr. Robert 

 C. Ayers, Jr., senior research associate, Exxon Production Research 

 Co. 



We welcome you. Once again, as I cautioned other witnesses, I 

 would appreciate your being as brief as possible. I note that none of 

 the statements are terribly long, particularly Dr. Ayers' statement. 

 I would appreciate the other witnesses summarizing as best you 

 can. 



Ms. Chapman. 



STATEMENTS OF PRISCILLA CHAPMAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, 

 NEW ENGLAND CHAPTER, SIERRA CLUB; KELLY RIGG, NATION- 

 AL OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF CAMPAIGN COORDINATOR, 

 GREENPEACE; AND ROBERT C. AYERS, JR., SENIOR RESEARCH 

 ASSOCIATE, EXXON PRODUCTION RESEARCH CO. 



STATEMENT OF PRISCILLA CHAPMAN 



Ms. Chapman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the con- 

 straints of time. At the same time, the New England Sierra Club 

 has been concerned with the potential effects of oil and gas drilling 

 to the biological resources on Georges Bank for a number of years. 



While I will try not to be too repetitive of what other witnesses 

 have said, I think there are some things that clearly need stress- 

 ing. 



The Sierra Club's position has been until enough information is 

 known to assure that drilling activities pose no threat to the natu- 

 ral resources, leasing in the Georges Bank area should proceed 

 slowly and with extreme caution, if at all. 



Recent drastic reductions in USGS hydrocarbon resource esti- 

 mates, coupled with the Department of the Interior's failure to 

 evaluate alternative sources of energy argue strongly that leasing 

 on Georges Bank should be halted at least temporarily. 



I found it interesting this morning, when Mr. Danenberger gave 

 some examples of tracts where there had been high resource esti- 

 mates, and then when they had drilled they had found insignifi- 

 cant finds of hydrocarbons. He did not also provide any examples 

 which would be comparable to Georges Bank, where there are very 

 low resource estimates and then there has been a major find. 



Also I would like to stress the secretarial issues document for 

 lease sale 52, the numbers in that document which relate to the 

 value of the Georges Bank fishery compared with the estimated 

 value of the entire sale for lease sale 52 appear to have been ig- 

 nored by the Department of the Interior. There has been no balanc- 

 ing as required by section 18, and perhaps, as the chairman sug- 

 gested earlier in this hearing, there is a need for Congress to spell 

 out this requirement more clearly. 



