1 The third reason that the no-drilling stipulation was required was 



2 to avoid any kind of spacial exclusion of fishing activity, and also to 



3 minimize conflicts between the conduct of fishing activity, particularly 



4 the pot fishery for lobsters and red crab and the long line fishery for 



5 tile fish and sword fish... minimize that kind of activity with any 



6 petroleum activity that occurred. 



7 That's not at all been the focus of this discussion today, for 



8 obvious reasons. 



9 The 200-meter distance was established based primarily in part on 



10 the National Academy of Sciences report, "Drilling Muds in the Marine 



11 Environment." They found that in general the cuttings were deposited 



12 fairly close to the drill site and the 200 meters pretty much 



13 encompassed the area. 



14 That was principally to avoid direct smothering of the biological 



15 community and direct destruction of any habitat. It will come as no 



16 surprise to most all of you that it's my feeling that the information 



17 presented today, almost 5 years after the original no-drill stipulation 



18 was proposed, that if anything the information that we've heard has 



19 reinforced the reasoning for having a no-drill stipulation inside and 



20 adjacent to the submarine canyons. 



21 I think it's fair to say that if there was not a no-drill 



22 stipulation and we were facing--let's say we'd already had a lease sale 



23 and there were some blocks that were sold that had submarine topography 



24 in them, I think it's likely that these submarine canyons would be 



25 viewed as areas of special biological significance. 



26 I wanted to get the word in clear, that's how it is defined in 



27 stipulation two, which is the biological stipulation, and that obviously 



28 stipulation two would be invoked and I think it's likely that the debate 



29 would then ensue on whether or not they should be allowed to drill 



30 inside the canyon, and if they were allowed to drill, should they be 



31 prohibited from discharging. 



32 If they were allowed to discharge, even if it was adjacent to the 



33 submarine topography, it's likely that there would be very restrictive 



34 limitations placed on the activity and monitoring. 



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