1 to plan and execute studies which seemed to resolve issues, which is 



2 what we're supposed to be doing. 



3 So, I have no idea whether the results of this particular workshop 



4 would be used by the Department of Interior or the State of Rhode Island 



5 or anybody else to change any of the decisions that they make on a 



6 political basis. 



7 What we're trying to do is get a consensus on those things which 



8 we can, where the facts are available and fairly pervasive 



9 [persuasive?] .. .that we can agree on, determine the areas where we 



10 can't, and where we might go from there to seek agreement on facts, not 



11 necessarily agreement on value judgments. 



12 There's always going to be an element of that, and I don't think 



13 we have any business, really, trying to work that out in the 



14 Environmental Studies Program, if you wish to be opposed to leasing or 



15 if we wish to support it. That's a different kind of problem. 



16 The two get mixed together so often in the debates about the 



17 studies program, that for us, at least, ...represents an attempt to try 



18 to deal with risk perception and come to some resolutions of at least 



19 some of the issues, and that's all it represents. 



20 As a matter of fact, I'm not 100 percent sure that Mr. Coleman 



21 [phonetic], who is the new director of MMS, even knows we're doing this, 



22 I didn't tell him. 



23 Nevertheless, just the fact that we can put down areas of 



24 agreement or disagreement, moves the program in the direction that we in 



25 the studies program want to move, which is trying to spend our money on 



26 things where we can have some influence to answer questions which 



27 concern people. 



28 I wouldn't read any more into than that. There's no subtle part 



29 here on the part of the Department of Interior to do something. We're 



30 not clever enough to be that subtle, I don't think. 



31 It's really self -generated from within the studies program. 



32 DR. KRAEUTER: Given what you were talking about of trying to get 



33 the fishing industry to talk to the oil industry and vice versa, I'm 



34 just trying to think through how you would do that. 



146 



