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Mr. Rees. OK. Is that better? OK. We oversee the Army Corps of 

 Engineers civil works activities. With me today is Mr. Michael 

 Davis, Assistant for Regulatory Affairs in our office. Representing 

 the Corps to discuss the technical research issues in a later panel is 

 Dr. Robert Engler, Director of the Center for Contaminated Sedi- 

 ments at the Corps' Waterways Experimental Station in Mississip- 

 pi. 



We are pleased to be here to discuss the general issue of disposal 

 of dredged material in ocean waters, the procedures that we use for 

 reaching decisions on disposal actions, treatment technologies, al- 

 ternatives, research activities, and assessment and remediation in 

 the Great Lakes and particularly the circumstances surrounding 

 the ongoing permit action in the Port of New York and New 

 Jersey. 



My testimony will address the programs and process generally 

 and the recent and ongoing permit situation. Dr. Engler later will 

 discuss the technical aspects of treatment technologies, alterna- 

 tives, and remediation. 



We understand that the permit situation in New York prompted 

 the hearing, but we are pleased that you decided to address the 

 issue of disposal of dredged material in a broader fashion. Difficul- 

 ties of disposal of dredged material affect not only permit actions 

 but also affect the entire dredging program of the Army Corps of 

 Engineers to maintain and improve the nation's waterways. This 

 has significant economic implications to the country and particu- 

 larly the maritime industry. 



Both the Army Civil Works Navigation Dredging Program and 

 the Army's program to regulate dredging and disposal activities of 

 others operate under essentially the same rules. The three princi- 

 pal laws are Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899; Sec- 

 tion 404 of the Clean Water Act; and Sections 102 and 103 of the 

 Ocean Dumping Act. In addition, there are more than 20 other 

 laws, most of them addressing environmental objectives with which 

 each decision in these programs must comply. 



My full statement includes a lot of data on the amounts of mate- 

 rial and generally where it comes from and the percentage of pol- 

 lutants and so forth. Suffice it to say that the annual amount of 

 dredging done is about 400 million cubic yards between both the 

 Corps dredging program and permits issued, and something less 

 than five percent of that material is considered contaminated and 

 requires special handling. 



Unfortunately for the coastal ports and the Great Lakes ports, 

 most of those areas are located in areas of contamination. And so 

 we find the kinds of problems that we have currently in New York. 

 There is a threshold requirement for disposal under both the Clean 

 Water Act and the Ocean Dumping Act. Under the Clean Water 

 Act, it is compliance with the 404[b][l] guidelines, and under the 

 Ocean Dumping Act it is compliance with the ocean dumping crite- 

 ria. The Corps goes through a great deal of testing and analysis to 

 determine compliance with those requirements. 



In addition, the Corps goes through a great deal of public in- 

 volvement, and I am troubled, frankly, to hear concerns raised 

 about people having to submit Freedom of Information Act re- 

 quests to get information from the Corps. It is certainly our intent 



