eased fish and shellfish, unusually high coliform bacterial counts in Bight waters and 

 sediments, and high metal concentrations in the sediments. 



Later in 1970 the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) published a report on 

 ocean dumping. This report reviewed the limited scientific information available at 

 that time, much of which was contained in unreviewed technical reports, and con- 

 cluded that ocean dumping was "not a serious, nationwide problem," but that "in 

 some areas the environmental conditions created by the ocean disposal of wastes are 

 serious" (CEQ, 1 970). This latter conclusion was substantially qualified in the report 

 itself by the statement that "knowledge of ocean pollution is rudimentary, and gener- 

 ally it has not been possible to separate the effects of ocean dumping from the 

 broader issue of ocean pollution (CEQ, 1970). This statement is particularly relevant 

 to the Bight because there are so many sources of pollution. Despite the considerable 

 acknowledged uncertainty and lack of adequate data, the CEQ report made strong 

 recommendations that ocean dumping should be subject to regulation and that 

 ocean dumping of sewage sludge and polluted dredged material should be phased 

 out (CEQ, 1970). 



In response primarily to the call of the CEQ report for strong national legislation 

 to regulate ocean dumping, the Congress enacted the Marine Protection Research 

 and Sanctuaries Act, which became law in October of 1972(33 USCSI401 et seq). 

 The Act states that: 



The Congress declares that it is the policy of the United States to regulate the 

 dumping of all types of materials into ocean waters and to prevent or strictly limit the 

 dumping into ocean waters of any material which would adversely affect human 

 health, welfare or amenities or the marine environment ecological systems or eco- 

 nomic potentialities. (PL-95-532, 33 USC S140I) 



Immediately before and after the passage of the Act a number of research pro- 

 grams were initiated to investigate more fully the effects of ocean dumping in the 

 New York Bight. In December 1973 and early in 1974, the popular press obtained 

 preliminary unpublished observations from limited sampling that constituted the 

 early results of such studies. Press accounts that followed included references to: 1 ) a 

 "dead sea" from the sewage sludge dumping (Sharov, 1973), 2) migration of the 

 sludge "bed" to within one-half mile of Long Island bathing beaches (Bird, 1973), 3) 

 predictions of the sludge would soon begin to wash up on the beaches (Bird, 1973; 

 Pearson, 1974; Carroll, 1974), and 4) warnings about potentially serious public 

 health hazards from heavy metals, bacteria, and viruses (Carroll, 1974; Kline, 1974; 

 Pearson, 1974). 



Other accounts claimed that the existing sewage sludge dumpsite could be used for 

 only one more year because the "dead sea" created by sludge was moving toward 

 Long Island beaches. This ominous prediction for onshore displacement of the 

 sludge bed gained credibility because it was attributed to "an authoritative EPA 

 source" (Pearson, 1974), that is, to a responsible regulatory agency. During this 

 period of time, stories and predictions of environmental disaster such as those cited 

 above appeared in national magazines and more than 100 newspapers, including 

 newspapers from the West Coast, and were heard on radio and television (Kidder, 

 1975; Souci, 1974). In addition the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency itself 

 issued a report stating: "We clearly recognize that the practice [of ocean sewage 

 sludge dumping] over the past 45 years has created a dead sea in the general area of 

 this site" (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Briefing Report, 1974). 



In response to the public and political pressures to take some action concerning 

 the newspaper media reports of impending environmental disaster caused by con- 

 tinued sewage sludge dumping, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1974 

 notified the municipalities responsible for dumping sewage sludge that they would be 

 expected to use an alternative offshore sludge dumping site within 2 years. During 

 the months following this announcement, the Environmental Protection Agency 

 evaluated the available scientific information concerning sludge dumping in the 

 ocean in order to develop an environmental impact statement in which moving the 

 existing sewage sludge dumpsite to alternate sites further offshore was considered. 



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