1 The Atlantic Region or MMS in general has funded a good deal of 



2 research on submarine canyons, their geochemistry, transport of 



3 contaminants related to OCS development into canyon areas, and the 



4 biological resources in and around canyon communities. 



5 A good deal of that research, funded not only by MMS, but by 



6 others, has only recently been published in the scientific literature in 



7 the last two to four years. We feel that enough information has been 



8 accumulated to start addressing the issue of submarine canyons. 



9 I'd like to also point out that there's some other motivation here 



10 in conducting this kind of workshop, for sometime there has been a 



11 moratorium of one sort or another on leasing in the Georges Bank, 



12 including submarine canyon areas. There have been protective 



13 stipulations applied to tracts around submarine canyon areas. 



14 Most recently the moratorium extends to 400 hundred meters, which 



15 effectively precludes not only submarine canyons from leasing, but all 



16 areas that would be of prospective interest to the oil industry within 



17 the operational constraints of present-day technology. 



18 When Congress imposed this moratorium as an attachment to the 



19 appropriations bill, even they recognized that this was stop-gap 



20 measure. This was something that they have encouraged MMS at public 



21 hearings to try and work to resolve. 



22 This workshop is an attempt in that direction, to provide a forum 



23 for deliberation and evaluation of at least the scientific information 



24 that's available through the studies program and try and focus them on 



25 these controversial environmental issues. 



26 I have received a number of phone calls for people who are also 



27 interested in the relationship between this workshop on submarine 



28 canyons and a parallel effort by the National Research Council on 



29 Environmental Issues, surrounding leasing in general on the Georges 



30 Bank. 



31 It is also another effort at a deliberative approach to resolving 



32 complex and controversial environmental issues. However, we felt that 



33 those issues were so broad and an attempt would be so complex, that it 



