301 



ENVIRONMENTAL 

 DEFENSE FUND 



National Headquarters 

 257 Park Avenue Soulh 

 New York. NY 10010 

 (212)505-2100 

 , „ Fax: 21 2-505-2 175 



May 10, 1993 



Fred Krupp 



The Honorable Solomon P. Ortiz 



Chairman 



Subcommittee on Oceanography, 



Gulf of Mexico, and the Outer 



Continental Shelf 

 U.S. House of Representatives 

 Committee on Merchant Marine and 



Fisheries 

 Room 1334, Longworth House Office Building 

 Washington, D.C 20515-6230 



Dear Representative Ortiz: 



Thank you for inviting me to testify on behalf of the Environmental Defense Fund 

 and other environmental organizations on the subject of ocean disposal of contaminated 

 dredge material on March 30, 1993. I have prepared the following responses to the 

 questions your committee forwarded to me on April 1. 1993. 



1. If the initial studies of contamination at the New Jersey/New York Port are 

 correct or improving, how does this sediment compare to that already at the site? 

 Additionally, how do you respond to other testimony that indicates that some think of 

 this sediment safe for a sandbox? 



In terms of dioxin levels, the sediments from the Port Authority's Port 

 Elizabeth/Port Newark facilities are more contaminated than those documented at the Mud 

 Dump Site. 



Three different "reaches" are proposed to be dredged from the Port's facilities. The 

 following chart outlines the average concentrations (pptr, in dry weight) of 2.3.7. S-TCDD 

 in the sediments from these three reaches taken in 1990, when the sediments were initially 

 tested, and in 1993, when they were tested a second time. 



1990 1993 



Reach B 127.2 81.2 



Reach C 154.3 94.2 



Reach D 84.5 62 



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