1 I mean, if you pick one now, it might be that you would come back 



2 after lunch and say, "Well, there is no way we could do that." The 



3 whole discussion may be -rrelevant until you start to talk about the 



4 mechanisms that could cause the impact. 



5 We are probably better with Jerry's more general definition up 



6 until that point. 



7 MR. LANE: Should we add the one that he just introduced, 



8 "directly attributable to OCS activities"? 



9 DR. NEFF: We have to have some linkage there even if it's only 



10 circumstantial. 



11 DR. AURAND: Presumably, if the discussion focuses on how the area 



12 would change, there would be a discussion of how OCS oil and gas 



13 activities could cause that and, at that point, we will define what that 



14 is, and then that would lead, perhaps, to some criteria. 



15 In any effect, I think it is important to realize that we are 



16 trying to do that, including the submersibles, in looking at the same 



17 rocks on the west coast, but we aren't very far along with that now. 



18 DR. NEFF: It's up to the drillers to drill and the permitters to 



19 permit. 



20 DR. HECKER: Okay. Then I guess another thing with regard to 



21 determining impacts or something, Dick, your feelings with regard to 



22 commercial species is that it doesn't really matter if we've got just 



23 exploratory versus developmental drilling, right? 



24 DR. COOPER: Perhaps. I don't really know the difference between 



25 the two. I know some obvious differences. I don't have a good feel for 



26 what the volume of output of cuttings is between an exploratory hole and 



27 a commercial hole. Obviously, a commercial hole is one that has the 



28 potential of an oil spill. 



29 DR. NEFF: You've got cumulative chemical signals, physical 



30 signals, and that could cause cumulative impact. 



31 DR. COOPER: So, the potential impact from a commercial platform 



32 is much greater than exploratory? 



33 DR. NEFF: The potential for an impact, because there is more 



34 stuff discharged. 



249 



