79 



- 3 - 

 writing with the Corps determination that the EPA environmental impact criteria have 

 been met. If EPA declines to concur in the Corps determination, no permit may be 

 issued. If EPA concurs wrth conditions, the permit must include such conditions. In 

 the event that EPA nonconcurs on a dredged material permit, the MPRSA allows the 

 Secretary of the Army to seek a waiver of the criteria or conditions from EPA. In the 

 history of the program, no waivers have been formally requested. 



The environmental impact criteria developed by EPA for use in the ocean 

 dumping permitting program primarily utilize biological effects tests (bioassays) as well 

 as chemical and physical tests to determine the suitability of material for ocean 

 disposal. These tests allow an assessment of the potential for the material to 

 adversely impact marine life which might be exposed to the material at the dumpsite. 



The biological tests are performed by exposing sensitive marine organisms in 

 the laboratory to the material proposed for dumping in order to evaluate the toxicity 

 of the material and also to evaluate the propensity of contaminants in the material to 

 bioaccumulate. The results of these tests are then compared to test results on a 

 reference sediment to determine the acceptability of the material for ocean disposal. 

 The reference sediment reflects the ambient conditions that would exist in the vicinity 

 of the disposal site had no dredged material disposal ever occurred, but had all other 

 influences on sediment conditions taken place (e.g., pollutant inputs from point 

 sources). In effect, the reference sediment provides the point of comparison for 

 determining the acceptability of the material and reflects ambient conditions in the 

 vicinity of the disposal site. 



