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Questions and Answers for the Record 



Hearing Before House MM&F-OGM&OCS on 30 March 1993 



Ocean Disposal of Contaminated Dredge Material 



Question from Chairman Ortiz - How big is the problem of the 

 disposal of contaminated sediments? 



ANSWER Mr. Rees: According to the Office of Technology 

 Assessment report, less than 5 percent of the approximately 300 

 million cubic yards of material dredged annually, on the average, 

 under the Corps dredging program is contaminated to the extent it 

 requires special handling. As I noted in my testimony, the 

 percentage is indicated to be higher for permitted activities but 

 is still relatively small. However, the small percentage of 

 contaminated sediment presents serious problems with maintaining 

 and improving many important ports in all parts of the country. 

 As an example, of those deep water ports that handled over a 

 million tons of waterborne commerce in 1990, about 80 ports, the 

 ports where contaminated sediments exist in at least a portion of 

 the project handled over 40 percent of the total volume of 1.56 

 billion tons. We believe that a broad approach to problem 

 solving is critical for the future of our ports and maritime 

 industry. Agencies responsible for source contamination must be 

 a part of the solution and those responsible for the pollution 

 must contribute to the premium costs when special handling is 

 required. Currently, the maritime industry is expected to bear 

 all the costs for remediating pollution problems caused by others 

 and by lack of historic vigorous enforcement of water quality 

 laws. 



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