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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 



Questions from Mr. Weldon - In your written testimony you 

 discuss wetlands creation using dredged material. How effective 

 is this? 



ANSWER Dr. Engler: Numerous wetlands have been created 

 successfully with dredged material. Engineering and design 

 information for wetland creation using dredged material is 

 contained in Engineer Manual EM 1110-2-5026. This document lists 

 over 120 sites and locations of wetland creation projects using 

 dredged material. These sites have been from as small as 1 acre 

 to as large as 1,200 acres (Louisiana) and 4,000 acres 

 (Minnesota) . These have been effective beneficial uses of 

 dredged material. 



Are there cases in which contaminated material was used 

 for wetland creation? If so, what is the success rate of this? 



ANSWER Dr. Engler: There are at least two locations were 

 wetlands have been established on contaminated dredged material, 

 Times Beach Confined Disposal Facility (CDF) at Buffalo, NY and 

 at the Corps/EPA Field Verification Program (FVP) site at 

 Bridgeport, CT. The flora in both wetlands are growing and 

 appear to be thriving on dredged material containing PCBs, PAHs 

 and metals. Both sites are currently being evaluated to document 

 migration of contaminants into the biota on each site. While 

 wetland plants do not appear to be contaminated on these sites, 



