1 DR. BOTHNER: Because of the possibility that there are any 



2 hydrocarbons in the water column at all. 



3 ■ DR. GRASSLE: Oh, Okay. 



4 DR. BOTHNER: You would have the opportunity for--I mean, that is 



5 the only mechanism that anybody has even proposed to get the stuff down. 

 5 DR. GRASSLE: Okay. 



7 DR. VALENTINE: The last sentence--"Benthic impacts, if they 



8 occur, are more likely to be long-term--" 



9 Would these be major impacts or minor impacts? Does long-term 



10 mean that they would not show up a long time or they would not be 



11 corrected for a long time? 



12 It is kind of vague. 



13 DR. GRASSLE: Yes. 



14 DR. COOPER: The depths we are talking about--I do not think we 



15 know anything about that at all one way or the other. 



16 DR. VALENTINE: Does "long-term" refer to recovery time or what? 



17 DR. KRAEUTER: I think it also comes into what you are talking 



18 about with benthic impacts. We talked about how the commercial species 



19 DR. COOPER: At depths of 1,200 feet, I cannot imagine anything... 



20 [unclear] 



21 DR. GRASSLE: I think the point was here that the benthic impacts, 



22 if they occur, are not likely to show up except as the result of long- 



23 term accumulation. 



24 DR. VALENTINE: We ought to say that, then. 



25 DR. BOTHNER: How about "long-term low-level exposure?" 



26 DR. KRAEUTER: Yes. "--are not likely to appear except as the 



27 result of--" 



28 DR. BOTHNER: How about just "--are likely to reflect long-term 



29 exposure?" 



30 DR. GRASSLE: Yes. "--long-term exposure as a result of gradual 



31 accumulation of material" or something like that. 



32 DR. KRAEUTER: That is the key. 



33 DR. GRASSLE: I do not think it is the long exposure. It is 



34 likely to be the result of very gradual accumulation of material. 



401 



