500 



Mr. Ayers. I don't object to the study of it. I just think as far as 

 expecting any impacts from drilling, it is not where the impacts 

 occur. 



Mr. D' Amours. Well, Georges Bank, Dr. Ayers, is a rather 

 unique ecosystem in that it has this gyre effect. Are you familiar 

 with that? 



Mr. Ayers. Yes. 



Mr. D'Amours. So don't you think the fact of the gyre might 

 cause us to take a more careful approach to the water column in 

 Georges Bank than we would in other areas? 



Mr. Ayers. If the discharges don't remain in the water column, 

 and they are rapidly dispersed, in concentrations even undetectible, 

 let alone significant from any kind of toxic impact, no. I think you 

 are better off spending the money doing something else. 



Mr. D'Amours. Where do you get the conclusion they don't 

 remain in the water column? 



Mr. Ayers. From other studies in other areas. There has 

 been 



Mr. D'Amours. I might have missed you earlier. Did you refer to 

 those studies specifically earlier? 



Mr. Ayers. I talked about several million dollars' worth of re- 

 search done in other areas. I have done some myself. 



Mr. D'Amours. In other areas? 



Mr. Ayers. Yes. 



Mr. D'Amours. We just agreed the bank was different because of 

 the gyre. 



Mr. Ayers. The laws of physics will not change. The Georges 

 Bank is an extremely energetic area. You are going to have higher 

 dispersion rates there than almost anywhere else. It fits right in 

 the picture of what we have seen, when we relate impacts with 

 energy of the environment. The data we have gotten from the 

 Georges Bank program is consistent with what we have seen else- 

 where. 



We saw bigger impacts in the mid-Atlantic where we did a study, 

 in a relatively low-energy environment. And we saw barium levels 

 20 to 30 times above background instead of 3. I made the point — 

 again, there is no question about the productivity and the value of 

 the Georges Bank area. But I think we are also finding that it is 

 very insensitive to drilling discharges. 



Mr. D'Amours. Well, there is some evidence of that. But every- 

 body who has testified seems to conclude that eight wells over a 2- 

 year period is hardly enough to draw that as a firm conclusion. Do 

 you think that we now have enough evidence to close shop on lease 

 sale 42? 



Mr. Ayers. No. I think we ought to continue with the monitor- 

 ing. There is going to be a meeting tomorrow I am attending at 

 Woods Hole. I don't want to give you an opinion on what we are 

 going to do right now. But I think there might be a little shift in 

 the emphasis of it to some of the deeper tracts. I don't know. I 

 think we need to talk about that. 



Mr. D'Amours. Many are questioning, as many of the witnesses 

 did this morning, and as I do, frankly, whether or not leasing 

 should continue in Georges Bank, given the very dramatic decrease 

 in the resource estimates. 



