158 



Testimony Of 



The American Association Of Port Authorities 



By 



Dwayne Lee 



Deputy Executive Director Of Development 

 Port Of Los Angeles 



Good morning. My name is Dwayne Lee. I am the Deputy Executive Director of 

 Development for the Port of Los Angeles. I am testifying today on behalf of the American | 

 Association of Port Authorities (AAPA). In addition to serving as a member of AAPA's J 

 Harbors, Navigation and Environment Committee, I am Chairman of the Dredging Task j 

 Force of the International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH). In that capacity, I j 

 represent IAPH as a non-voting member of the London Convention of 1972, the 

 international treaty governing the ocean disposal of dredged material, of which the United j 

 States is a signatory. 



Founded in 1912, AAPA represents virtually all public seaport authorities and 

 agencies in the United States, Canada, Latin, South America and the Caribbean. AAPA ! 

 members are mandated by law to serve public purposes, to facilitate waterborne commerce 

 and to generate local and regional economic growth. My testimony today only reflects the 

 views of our U.S. members. As public agencies, AAPA members share the public's concern j 

 for preserving a clean environment while furthering our country's economic, international j 

 trade, and national security objectives. The public port community is particularly concerned | 

 about the need to accommodate both our environmental goals and the economic necessity I 

 to dredge our nation's harbors to ensure that ports continue to serve as our nation's i 

 gateways to the international marketplace. 



Mr. Chairman, the public port industry commends you for holding this hearing today. 

 AAPA greatly appreciates the opportunity to testify and to share our perspective on ocean ' 

 disposal of dredged material. The reality is we are on the verge of a national dredging crisis I 

 because we have not been able to dredge our nation's harbors in a timely and cost-effective 

 fashion. It is time for the federal government to develop a comprehensive, national dredged 1 

 material management and disposal policy that will enable us to break the gridlock that many \ 

 of our nation's ports face when they need to dredge our harbors. AAPA will soon be , 

 finalizing a proposed policy and .looks forward to working with this Committee, Congress 

 and the Administration to address these difficult but very important issues. 



In my testimony today, I want to highlight five principal points: 



1. Of the 300 million cubic yards of sediment dredged by the 

 Corps from federal navigational channels only about 5 percent 



