1 would get out of this and then turn it loose, because I do feel an 



2 . objection to keep the discussions going, if that is a problem. I don't 



3 know whether it is or not, but I'll try this anyway, and that may 



4 prevent any future problems. 



5 We don't really think, I guess, that yesterday's discussions were 



6 the heart of the matter. In some respects, what Pat said yesterday 



7 afternoon is true. It was a restatement of everything we have heard 



8 before and that goes for all of the papers, not just the ones which deal 



9 with the uniqueness of the biological communities. 



10 But what has always been missing from this discussion, whenever 



11 the presentations have been made, is any kind of coherent melding of the 



12 data into something that addresses conclusions about impacts. 



13 This is something that MMS has always had trouble with. It deals 



14 with the issue of summary documents and the transfer of information. We 



15 thought the best way to attempt to summarize this information, rather 



16 than trying to do it ourselves and being accused of all kinds of things, 



17 was to bring together the people who were concerned about or who did the 



18 data and get them to work together to flesh out what kinds of 



19 conclusions they would be willing to draw from their own data. 



20 Our presentation of two hypotheses for discussion is just that. 



21 It is an attempt to begin the flow of information. We certainly would 



22 hope that those would come out to be a little more detailed, a little 



23 more involved, and have a little more data behind them when you all got 



24 done with it. 



25 As a matter of fact, there is no real requirement that they even 



26 be what you come up with; it is just a place to start. We would like to 



27 be able to go through all of the things that are on the schedule; 



28 whether we get them done in one day or two is kind of irrelevant to us 



29 as long as we get through all the steps. 



30 I believe when I get done. Bob and Jim will have some more to say 



31 about that, but I think the important part is that our goal is a good 



32 summary of what the integrated results of all this research mean, not so 



33 much the individual presentations themselves. 



166 



