505 



Testimony from MAS on BTF 

 Pago Two 



These studies have produced baseline information which will be of great 

 value when evaluating the effects of OCS activity on the environment over a 

 long period of time; we have been pressing for adequate baseline data since 

 1975 when the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Lease Sale 42 was 

 published. 



Lack of baseline data has been a problem in other areas where OCS activity 

 has occurred. Without such data, there is no way to predict what impacts 

 have occurred as a result of offshore oil and gas drilling. 



We are concerned not with what the BTF has accomplished so far but with 

 what still remains to be done. 



The present monitoring program was designed to monitor the impacts from 

 drilling on Lease Sale A2 tracts. We are now facing Lease Sale 52 and Lease 

 Sale 82. Therefore, the BTF must expand its monitoring to include the tracts 

 of these proposed lease sales. Since the BTF's mandate has been expanded to 

 include Lease Sale 52, we expect that such a monitoring program will be 

 developed and implemented. Along with increased responsibility must come 

 increased funds if the BTF is to maintain the standards of research set so 

 far. 



In addition to developing a monitoring program, the BTF has yet to fulfill 

 its other, mandated responsibilities. 



One is the identification of zones of special biological significance. 

 This is important for two reasons. First, once these areas are designated, 

 lease stipulations can be written to provide special protection for those 

 areas, EPA discharge permits (NPDES) can take special conditions into consider- 

 ation, and other mitigating measures can be developed. Second, funds for 

 environmental studies are limited. The designation of zones of special biological 

 significance can be one criterion to prioritize which studies should be funded. 

 With additional funding, the BTF could also expand its benthic monitoring 

 program to do more extensive study of other components of the ecosystem. 



28-914 O— 84 33 



