1 percent, even 0.1 of a percent, less than 10 percent in the canyon 



2 itself. 



3 Then again, we are still looking at insoluble barium sulfate which 



4 is ubiquitous and is definitely not unique. It is everywhere. It is in 



5 the canyon sediments. It is in the shelf sediments. It's on the slope. 



6 It's everywhere. 



7 Is barium sulfate a bad actor? Certainly not in our experience. 



8 I've never seen any indication that it is a problem. So, I have 



9 probably just given you a lot more information than you really asked 



10 for, but those are the kinds of things we do out there. 



11 DR. COOPER: What this means to me is that any measurable impact 



12 to the commercial species, which are mostly mobile in the heads of these 



13 canyons, from growing activities, commercial growing activities, through 



14 suffocation or through contamination, direct injection into the food 



15 chain from various trace metals and so forth, is very unlikely, ^^ery 



16 small. 



17 MS. HUGHES: Dick, are you talking about exploratory activities? 



18 DR. COOPER: I'm talking about-- 



19 MS. HUGHES: All the way through to development and production? 



20 DR. COOPER: Yes. 



21 MS. HUGHES: Are you concerned about formation-- 



22 DR. COOPER: That was my next question. I'm looking at this in 



23 two or three phases, if you can bear with me for just a couple of 



24 minutes. 



25 If there is some basis for my own gut feeling that that is the 



26 case there, now you go to, say, a large oil spill where you get a lot of 



27 hydrocarbons dumped in the water. In these high energy environments, 



28 what is the likelihood of this stuff getting down to the bottom at 530 



29 feet? 



30 DR. AYERS: I'd rather have somebody else address that. I think 



31 Jerry or-- 



32 DR. NEFF: We certainly know, in oil spill situations, that some 



33 of the petroleum does get to the bottom, mostly in shallow waters. We 



235 



