1 For opposition to exploration to disappear just like that, then 



2 the two processes, the two phases, have to be decoupled. 



3 MR. VILD: What exactly do you mean by that? Do you mean having a 



4 separate exploration and lease sale? 



5 DR. TEAL: I don't know exactly what I mean, I mean they have to 



6 be decoupled in such a way that one doesn't automatically follow the 



7 other. 



8 The ideal situation would be an amendment to the Lands Act so that 



9 exploration could be done separately, entirely separately. The 



10 government could go out using the oil companies or using geological 



11 survey or something and find out and do real exploratory drilling and 



12 find out what was there. 



13 Then, the whole question would arise again, but there wouldn't 



14 automatically be, without control and without further consideration, 



15 development on an area which there was promise of something, and the 



16 people who were considering whether to support or not support production 



17 drilling, would also know what it was that was down there and was worthy 



18 of production. 



19 That, for environmental considerations, can make a very big 



20 difference. 



21 DR. AURAND: Actually, the connection is not automatic, even in 



22 the existing situation. However, since we've never done anything else, 



23 we are hard pressed to prove to anyone that it could, in fact, be 



24 decoupled if the resource was sufficient to conduct the lease sale. 



25 So, I can see the perception and I don't know exactly how the 



26 government gets out of that bind. Since we have never told someone they 



27 couldn't develop something, at least not to my knowledge, I don't think 



28 we ever have, even though the law would permit it, I don't think anybody 



29 believes that we ever would. 



30 I would be interested in both of your reactions to John's 



31 suggestion. Do you think that that would change--in light of the 



32 conclusions that we presented, if those conclusions were stuffed in 



33 separate little boxes for exploration, and production and development, 



34 do you think you would have different responses? 



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