1 Maybe I should say that I'm not convinced that opposition hasn't 



2 lessened. 



3 I think I'm just speaking for myself, I'm politically more mature 



4 in the whole process than I was 10 years ago when I started. I think 



5 what we know now--with what we know now, governors are willing to 



6 accept, my governor is anyway, he's willing to accept a certain degree 



7 of offshore drilling. 



8 If this must come to pass, then he will support it, with certain 



9 stipulations, one of them being a no drilling in the canyons stipulation 



10 or just an outright deferral from lease sale to lease sale. 



11 We're still concerned about the cod and haddock spawning grounds 



12 and different distinct areas. I think in general we in Rhode Island 



13 still support the notion of offshore drilling, our governor does. 



14 There's a certain degree of political heat that's generated in the 



15 governor's way as a result of that. We've had public hearings in 



16 Providence where I was the only one timidly approaching the microphone 



17 and saying, "Well, the governor does support the thrust of the offshore 



18 drilling program, but--" 



19 Then, taking great pains to say exactly where we were concerned, 



20 the sorts of areas we wanted to see out of the particular lease sale 



21 under question or the areas that we wanted to have covered under that 



22 special biological stipulation. 



23 Maybe it's a more accurate assessment to say there's been some 



24 consolidation of protest around things like the submarine canyons, 



25 because as the years have gone by, and Pat, I think, has pointed this 



26 out in her particular talk, there really hasn't been enough evidence 



27 generated that would have us urge our governors to reverse their 



28 particular position as far as opposition to the canyons go. 



29 We've heard about different current regimes, we've heard about 



30 variations even within the same canyon, and observations like that make 



31 prediction very, very difficult. Also, getting into the economics 



32 thing, there's an energy glut now, there is no real pressure by the oil 



33 companies to do anything on the North Atlantic. 



138 



