140 



could be made on that result because no "bioaccumulation criteria" had been 

 developed. 



Petroleum hydrocarbons would bioaccumulate in test organisms and 

 occasionally at concentrations statistically significantly higher than "reference" 

 organisms. In both cases, the test result would be ignored because the Corps 

 would explain that the test for petroleum hydrocarbons bioaccumulation did not 

 distinguish between bioaccumulated hydrocarbons and natural body lipids. Plus, 

 no petroleum hydrocarbon bioaccumulation criteria had ever been developed. 

 Consequently, a portion of the test value would be attributed to naturally- 

 occurring substances. In EDF's review of fifteen Public Notices, eight had 

 bioaccumulation results of petroleum hydrocarbons and those results played no 

 role in determining how to manage the sediments. 



Another major problem was the reference material used to compare against 

 sediments proposed for dredging. The reference" sediments were supposed to 

 reflect conditions that had not been affected by the Mud Dump Site. The 

 rationale was that if the organisms exposed to proposed dredged material 

 sediments did not fail the tests any more than organisms exposed to reference 

 material, then the dredged material would not have any more of an impact than 

 those caused by ambient conditions. But the "reference" area has always been 

 2.6 nautical miles southwest of the Mud Dump Site. EDF and Clean Ocean 

 Action have consistently maintained that the site was too close to not be 

 influenced by the Mud Dump Site. One reason for this position was that based 

 on a sediment survey conducted by NOAA 32 , the reference site fell within the 

 area of sediments contaminated with metals. PCBs. PAHs and bacteria. Another 

 was that whenever % survival results were low for proposed dredge sediments or 

 bioaccumulation results were above detection limits, so were the results from the 

 reference sediments. Consequently, statistically significant differences were almost 

 never able to be found. 



b. Problems with the 1991 Green Book and its implementation 



The 1991 Green Book offered an opportunity to remedy the outstanding 

 problems with the 1977 version. However, some problems remain and new ones 

 have emerged. 



i. A critique of the 1991 Green Book criteria 



see footnote 9 



16 



