1 started at a high point in the cycle, we could have gotten the opposite 



2 results; instead of having the drilling during a low year of abundance 



3 and diversity followed by two years of high values, we could have just 



4 seen the opposite because of a different point in that cycle. 



5 I don't think we know how long that cycle may be. I think the 



6 main point is that when you consider the same pattern was seen in 



7 stations all over Georges Bank. 



8 DR. BUTMAN: I thought you were saying that that wasn't a 



9 significant change? It is, it's just you can't correlate that? 



10 DR. NEFF: We can't correlate it with the drilling discharges per 



11 se. We did try and do some correlations between increments in barium 



12 and biological responses, and none of those were significant. Again, 



13 that's a hard thing to do. 



14 DR. RAY: Jerry, in the study you were talking about with the 



15 lobster effects, as I recall in that study you prepared those test 



16 sediments to mimic different concentration levels of contaminated 



17 sediment based on barium concentration? 



18 DR. NEFF: Right. 



19 DR. RAY: What was the level in those sediments in the tests where 



20 you saw the lobster effects that you were just talking about? 



21 DR. NEFF: They were actually sort of worst case. We decided to 



22 go for the worst-case scenario. In the literature I've seen increments 



23 up to 10,000 ppm barium above background, that is near a production 



24 platform. It was in that range, 5,000 to 10,000 ppm barium above- 



25 background concentration. 



26 So, this is three orders of magnitude higher than we saw on 



27 Georges Bank, for instance. So, that is an important consideration. We 



28 tried to maximize the potential impact, you might say, to see if we 



29 could detect a biological signal. 



30 It's still a concentration that could be envisioned under worse- 



31 case situations where you're developing a large field. So basically we 



32 saw very 1 ittle. 



33 DR. RAY: Usually those concentrations are only seen in the very 



34 immediate vicinity of the deposition area? 



101 



