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QUESTION: 



a. Once a site is designated for ocean disposal of dredged material, at what 

 point is a monitoring plan developed? 



b. Does the public comment on the monitoring plan? 



c. How often is a site monitored? 



d. In most cases, what does monitoring entail? 



e. How effective would you say your monitoring efforts are? 

 ANSWER: 



a. Prior to enactment of the Water Resources Development Act of 1992 

 amendments to the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act 

 regarding development of site management plans, monitoring plans were 

 either developed as part of a site management plan or were developed 

 separately for individual projects either before or after the site designation. 

 With implementation of WRDA's new requirements, site monitoring plans 

 will be developed as part of the site management plan required for all sites. 

 As a practical matter, the monitoring plan contained in the site management 

 plan will describe, in a general way, the goals of the monitoring, necessary 

 equipment, and when certain types of monitoring will be appropriate; 

 detailed monitoring survey plans will likely be developed on a project-by- 

 project basis, though consistent with the monitoring plan contained in the 

 site management plan. 



b. Title V of the Water Resources Development Act of 1992, which requires 

 development of site management plans, provides for public review and 

 comment of site management plans (which includes the site monitoring 

 plan). Specific monitoring requirements for an individual project would be 

 available for review as part of the normal project public-review process 

 provided by the statute and regulations and as described in a previous 

 answer. 



c. Monitoring to evaluate impacts in the marine environment is resource 

 intensive and time-consuming. The frequency of monitoring at any ocean 

 disposal site is based on a number of site specific factors, of which 

 contamination is one. Other factors include, but are not limited to, the 

 frequency, volume, and characteristics of disposed material, the sensitivity 

 of the environment around the disposal site, and the availability of 



