1 it, if the animals bio-accumulated it and you then ate the lobster or 



2 whatever. 



3 That is pretty much where it stands in terms of potential impacts 



4 on the environment. As I said, the available evidence shows that the 



5 bio-accumulation probably is not a serious problem. Very little of the 



6 metal is in a form that can be readily bio-accumulated. It is mostly 



7 the sulfides. 



8 The chromium actually is mostly reduced to chromium'^ which 



9 absorbs very strongly. My understanding is you get chromium sulfide, by 



10 anyway, it is quite immobile. There is no mechanism in a reducing 



11 environment to oxidize chromium"^ even though manganese potentially 



12 could. It's chromium-carbonate is probably the form it exists in 



13 sediments, even though it is introduced as Cr"\ 



14 So, that is basically where we stand. If you go through all the 



15 metals, you could say what form they might be present in, but virtually, 



16 they are all in insoluble forms, so there is very limited bio- 



17 availability, bio-accumulation. 



18 DR. COOPER: Jerry, would a production rig have a number of 



19 anchors, 10- or 12-ton anchors in radiating directions? 



20 DR. NEFF: If it was a semi-submersible exploration rig, it would; 



21 a production rig probably would be sitting on the bottom. It would be a 



22 structure. You've probably seen pictures of the one in the Gulf of 



23 Mexico. It's a great big superstructure sitting right on the bottom. 



24 There are all kinds of new designs. Some of them have guidelines, 



25 but if it is in the exploration stages, you have all the anchors. 



26 Obviously, a key consideration is you don't want to put those anchors 



27 down in the canyon walls. You would probably do some damage on these 



28 vertical cliffs. 



29 DR. VILD: Did you say the chromium is not available? 



30 DR. NEFF: That's right. Of all the metals in drilling, the 



31 chromium is the most mobile because it is introduced as an organic 



32 complex, whereas all the other ones are in the mineral phases, you know. 



33 They are solid metal. 



261 



