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should have been conducted to ascertain the all potential environmental impacts or" 

 continuing to dispose of dioxin-contaminated sediments at the Mud Dump Site. 



d. The Monitoring and Management Plan 



A "Monitoring and Management Plan" (MMP) was developed by the NYD 

 and Region II EPA to be effectively test whether or not the dioxin 

 bioaccumulation criteria was acceptable. The MMP was negotiated between 

 Region II and NYD between March and late November 1992, when it was 

 released to other agencies for comment. The MMP did not go through a true 

 review process and did not undergo any scientific scrutiny. Although comments 

 were considered welcome, an eight page set of comments submitted by EDF 41 has 

 yet to be responded to. Some features of the MMP have changed since it was 

 originally issued, but it is still flawed. 



The MMP does not answer the right questions. If any disposal of dioxin- 

 contaminated material was to occur and if that material was subject to a rigorous, 

 scientifically credible bioaccumulation criteria that protected wildlife, a MMP 

 should answer the following questions. 1) Has capping been successful in 

 covering the entire amount of deposited sediments? 2) Have all routes of 

 exposure and risk posed by dioxins and furans in dredged materials been 

 assessed? 3) how will monitoring be conducted to determine if any threats are 

 posed to the environment by the exceedance of preset thresholds? The MMP. 

 even in its current incarnation will not answer these questions. It is lacking in 

 breadth of data that is to be collected; the capping regime is insufficient to 

 guarantee any measure of protection; too many factors are uncontrolled and there 

 is no scheme for defining how data will be used to change management practices 

 or to amend the criteria. Lastly, long-term monitoring is not provided for. 



In addition to the problems outlined by EDF's letter, it appears that the 

 MMP does not even comport with the ACOE's own recommendations about 

 monitoring. In a technical guidance document 42 , monitoring components are 

 detailed that go further than the MMP developed by the NYD/Region II. 



41 EDF letter to Mr. Sidamon-Eristoff. Administrator of Region II EPA and 

 Colonel Thomas York. District Engineer. New York District, on January 4, 1993. 



42 U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station. "Monitoring 

 Considerations for Capping" in Dredging Research and Technical Notes DRP-5- 

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