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The Honorable Solomon P. Ortiz 

 May 10. 1993 

 Page 5 



Secondly, the monitoring plan devised by the Corps and EPA for this permit is still 

 flawed and should be vastly improved. For example, the area that will be monitored is too 

 small to provide a good picture of the entire area that could potentially be impacted by 

 dredge material disposal. 



In summary, the monitoring aspect of this permit plays a large role in EDF's 

 position on this permit and ocean disposal permitting in general. 



5. How should ports dispose of contaminated dredged material? Who should 

 pay for it? 



Ports should dispose of contaminated dredged material either in containment 

 facilities identified as the safest method of disposal for contaminated dredged material or 

 by decontaminating the dredge material prior to disposal. Decontamination technologies are 

 typically viewed as being too expensive and not available to the ports as a feasible, short- 

 term dredge material management option. Federal monies need to be made available to 

 demonstrate decontamination technologies and to prove its effectiveness. Secondly, the 

 ports are frequently reluctant to support the use of the safest containment facilities because 

 they tend to be more expensive than less effective options. The payment for these disposal 

 and treatment options should be borne by both the public and private sector. Because 

 ports range from being completely private to completely public entities, it is difficult to 

 define how the entire port community should share the burden. Nevertheless, it is a 

 dialogue in need of occurring. 



6. What percent of the time are requests for public comment extensions denied 

 by the Corps of Engineers or EPA? 



EPA has no jurisdiction to extend public comment deadlines for Section 103 

 permits; only the Corps can make such extensions. In my experience, the Corps only 

 grants extensions when the requests come from numerous parties, and in particular, from 

 other federal or state agencies. I would guess that requests are denied 25% of the time. 



Questions from the Honorable Curt Weldon 



7. How effective is the ocean disposal program? 



To some degree, it may not be possible to answer that question because systematic, 

 comprehensive monitoring has not yet been conducted by EPA at all dump sites around the 

 country. Consequently, it is difficult to ascertain how effective the program has been in 

 meeting the goals of the MPRSA. However, the fact that almost all dredge material has 

 passed ocean dumping criteria, include those materials from polluted industrial harbors, 

 indicates that the criteria are not stringent enough and there is a potential for dredged 



