1 and having a good old time, attracted, I think, by the physical 



2 structure, the light and everything else. 



3 DR. KRAEUTER: If you put down anchor lines, you are going to get 



4 a different habitat and you are going to get things that may not 



5 normally be there. The evidence suggests that any time you put anything 



6 down there, you are creating an artificial reef; whether that's positive 



7 or negative, I don't know. 



8 DR. HECKER: You might increase predation pressure on the infauna 



9 in the area, so it might be negative to the infauna, but it might be 



10 positive to the epifauna. 



11 DR. TEAL: The stuff that grows on the rig itself falls off onto 



12 the bottom and thereby changes the environment immediately under the 



13 rig, but we're not talking about that now. Our rigs we have already 



14 defined as being 500 or 1,000 meters away from the head of the canyon. 



15 MS. HUGHES: They are going to recommend no drilling in the canyon 



16 head? 



17 DR. TEAL: Nothing closer than 500 meters to the head of the 



18 canyon. 



19 DR. AURAND: Actually, Bob alluded to it and we had discussed it 



20 earlier in the afternoon, that the oil companies, at least speaking for 



21 Bob's oil company, they don't have any trouble with the 500 meter 



22 offset. 



23 They don't really want to drill in the canyonhead if it is going 



24 to cause a lot of controversy. You heard him say it, a 500 meter 



25 offset, fine. 



26 MS. HUGHES: I was only asking for clarification. Then, is it 



27 fair to assume that in this report, that collectively, it has been 



28 already decided that-- 



29 DR. TEAL: I am suggesting that we decide right now. If you say 



30 that cuttings and dense stuff from the muds, the cuttings, from the 



31 drilling operations themselves, can get up to a few hundred meters away. 



32 There isn't any indication that cuttings can get as far as 500 meters 



33 away. I think 300 meters was mentioned as being the most, and I'm not 



34 sure that was even for cuttings. That was for muds. 



276 



