1 That has traditionally been the way the Minerals Management 



2 Service has handled drilling in controversial areas. It's been, "Let us 



3 get in there and we'll place all these restrictions on the activity so 



4 that you really have nothing to worry about." 



5 I think it's probably fair to say in many areas that that has been 



6 somewhat of a sensible way to go. I do think, however, that the 



7 information that we had up to 1984, and I think the information that we 



8 have today, as we sit here in this room, argues for actually not 



9 allowing drilling within the submarine canyons and perhaps we could 



10 discuss tomorrow whether or not this 200-meter no-drill zone is 



11 sufficient, given the presentations that we've heard today. 



12 I would like just to close by saying that while most of 



13 the--really I guess all of monitoring work to date on the U.S. OCS has 



14 focused on exploratory drilling activities. The potential impacts of 



15 development and production I think are ultimately what most people are 



16 concerned about. 



17 I think, again, that given the information that we've been 



18 presented on the transport of material, the pollutants attached to the 



19 fine-grained sediment, the question of the fate of this fine-grained 



20 material within the canyons, the fact that this is unique habitat, there 



21 are species in the canyons that are found nowhere else on the adjacent 



22 shelf and slope, might argue that it's further argument for preventing 



23 these areas from being leased in the first place. 



24 Thank you. 



25 MR. LANE: Are there any questions for Pat? Thank you, Pat. 



26 Next we're going to hear from Bruce Vild from the State of Rhode 



27 Island about the State of Rhode Island's perspective on the same issues. 

 28 



29 PRESENTATION OF MR. BRUCE F. VILD 



30 



31 MR. VILD: Thanks, Jim. Good afternoon and a belated welcome to 



32 all of you to the State of Rhode Island. 



33 I was pleased to hear what Don Aurand was saying this morning that 



34 our assessment of the two hypotheses in this particular workshop will 



133 



