1 going to allow you to put a rig right in the middle of a canyonhead, 



2 that you would be opposed to do that. You would be. 



3 My comment is: I don't think the Department of Interior would 



4 allow anybody to put a rig right in the middle of a canyonhead, anyway. 



5 Remember, I speak for Studies. I base it only on what goes on in the 

 5 Gulf of Mexico. There are live bottom stipulations in the Gulf of 



7 Mexico, and we don't allow them to do that. 



8 DR. VALENTINE: A canyonhead, though, you are saying, not 



9 necessarily a canyon block? 



10 DR. AURAND: Yes, that is correct. I am not saying that we would 



11 exclude a canyon block. In fact, the Department of the Interior--if my 



12 understanding of the situation is correct--would not be excluding canyon 



13 blocks now had there not been Congressional action and the history to 



14 get us into a place where we have moratorium around canyonheads. What 



15 we would be applying would be what we wrote as stipulations. 



16 MR. VILD: But even in a canyonhead area, are we talking about the 



17 possibility of a lease block being leased on a canyonhead, but there 



18 being a special stipulation prohibiting on-site discharge so that you 



19 don't get into this business about varying the-- 



20 DR. AURAND: I'm not willing to--I can't speak for the Department 



21 of Interior, but I think it is reasonable to consider the possibility of 



22 mitigation in these situations for the burial. Now, I am just speaking 



23 for burial . 



24 One, the bottom line is you don't put it there. You can do that 



25 by a couple of different mechanisms. One is to not put the platform 



26 there in the first place and have an offset. The other one would be to 



27 not discharge it. 



28 I think the Department of the Interior would prefer the offset, as 



29 opposed to the no discharge. Jim, do you want to say anything about 



30 that? 



31 DR. RAY: My only comment on that is that that situation would 



32 depend on whether there is exploration or not. If an operator feels 



33 that an area from an exploration standpoint and the only way to drill is 



34 to drill a straight hole, and their option to drill or not to drill was 



279 



