Stellwagen Bank Final EIS and Management Plan 



Pc^e68 



construct vessels and facilities to allow the offshore 

 incineration of trash from metropolitan Boston. 

 While much of the proposal is preliminary, and 

 therefore proprietary, the proposed activity would 

 generally involve the construction of a shoreside 

 facihty from which to load trash into a special 

 incineration vessel. 



Offshore incineration of trash may be conducted 

 via permits issued pursuant to regulations 

 implementing Title I of the Marine Protection, 

 Research and Sanctuaries Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 

 § 1431 et seg.), at 40 CFR §§ 220.3(0, 228.4(b). 



In general, § 220.3(f) states that permits for 

 incineration of wastes at sea will be issued only as 

 "interim" permits or "research" permits (defined at 

 40 CFR §§ 220.3(d) and 220.3(e), until specific 

 criteria regulating this type of disposal are 

 promulgated, except in instances where studies have 

 been conducted on: the waste material; incineration 

 method and vessel; amd the site to be used. 



Additionally, the site in question must have been 

 designated for incineration at sea according to 

 procedures set forth in § 228.4(b). These 

 procedures must be conducted in accordance with 

 the same site designation requirements for other 

 types of ocean disposal activities, found at §§ 228.5 

 and 228.6. Among those requirements is the 

 particular consideration to be given to avoidance of 

 sensitive areas, such as beaches, shorehnes, marine 

 sanctuaries, or geographically limited fisheries or 

 shellfisheries. 



Currently, there is no site within the Stellwagen 

 Bank area designated for ocean incineration. 

 Because incineration activities have not occurred 

 previously, it is unclear at this point what precise 

 effects, if any, such an operation could have on the 

 proposed Sanctuary's resources. In the event of a 

 proposed incineration site designation, or the 

 issuance of an interim (or research) permit under 

 Title I regulations, future action by the Sanctuary 

 Manager may be warranted to ensure that 

 Sanctuary resources and qualities are protected 

 from any harmful effects resulting from such an 

 activity. 



9. Ocean Discharges 



Massachusetts Bay and Cape Cod Bay receive 

 waste, in the form of effluent or sludge, from a 

 number of pipes extending from municipal 

 wastewater treatment plants (Figure 14) (MBP 

 Management Committee, 1989). The total 

 combined flow of this material is reported to be 566 

 million gallons per day (MGD), with approximately 

 500 MGD of that total discharged by the existing 

 Massachusetts Water Resources Authority 

 (MWRA) treatment works at Deer and Nut Islands, 

 the plants that serve the greater Boston Area. Most 

 industrial discharges enter Massachusetts Bay 

 through the municipal wastewater treatment plants, 

 principally the MWRA system. 



The MWRA is currently involved in the 

 construction, to be completed by 1999, of a new 

 wastewater treatment facihty on Deer Island. The 

 new plant will provide more effective, secondary 

 treatment of the wastewater, and eliminate the 

 discharge of sludge into coastal waters (by 1991). 

 The discharge point, an ocean outfall, is to be 

 relocated from the entrance to Boston Harbor to an 

 area between 7.9 and 9.4 statute miles (or 12.7 and 

 15.1 km) east-northeast of Deer Island (Figure 15). 

 This location is approximately 12.5 nautical miles 

 (23.12 km) from the Sanctuary study area. 



An extensive environmental assessment of the 

 potential environmental effects of the proposed 

 outfall was undertaken by the MWRA, with the 

 results pubHshed in Volume V, "Effluent Outfall", of 

 the MWRA Secondary Treatment Facihties Plan 

 (1988), and appendices. An Environmental Impact 

 Statement (EIS) was also prepared by the EPA for 

 this project. Each of these documents concluded 

 that a diffuser-type outfall located in the area 

 identified above would be environmentally 

 acceptable. 



Increases in discharge volume have also been 

 proposed for the South Essex Sewer District and 

 the Town of Plymouth, discharging into 

 Massachusetts Bay and Cape Cod Bay, respectively. 

 No points source discharges have been proposed 

 directly within the Sanctuary. 



The Massachusetts Ocean Sanctuaries Act 

 prohibits any new discharge of wastewater into 

 areas designated as ocean sanctuaries. (Such areas 



