1 down to something that they can understand and, for that matter, 



2 something that all of us can understand. 



3 I couldn't read all the literature that is available on 



4 canyonheads in what I hope to be my remaining career at MMS which tells 



5 you something about either how long or how short I think it is going to 



6 be. I don't know. 



7 But we really think that is an important contribution that MMS can 



8 make to the open dialogue concerning off-shore drilling and so, we would 



9 hope that we can still focus on those issues today. 



10 Bob did give some thought to Pat's suggestion that perhaps we 



11 could figure out a way to finish sooner, and I think Jim has a few 



12 comments to make and then Bob has a proposal for how, perhaps, we could 



13 accelerate the process to some extent. 



14 Before you talk about that, I wanted to make sure we got a few 



15 words in about this being--to us, at least, and hopefully, to the 



16 public--the most important part of the meeting. Jim? 



17 MR. LANE: I thought I would start by making a couple of comments 



18 about what we heard yesterday, describing the abundant and diverse 



19 biological communities in the canyons and why they merit special 



20 protection and special consideration. 



21 Certainly, it is clear that there are diverse and abundant 



22 communities there, more abundant than the adjacent areas between 



23 canyons. I stop at the description "unique," just because I am a 



24 stickler, and "unique" implies singular to me and obviously, there is 



25 more than one canyon which contains these kinds of communities, but 



26 certainly they warrant special attention. 



27 The last existing protective stipulation placed on them that I am 



28 aware of was one that had a no-drilling zone within 200 meters of the 



29 canyon rim. There were more specific boundaries d£fined by NCAA, but I 



30 think in general that was the no drilling limitation. 



31 There were proposals to have more extensive zones and I think the 



32 final conclusion was 200 meters and Pat might want to comment on that. 



33 MS. HUGHES: I think I did yesterday, Jim. 



168 



