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The Honorable Solomon P. Ortiz 

 May 10. 1W3 

 Page 6 



material to have had adverse impacts at disposal sites. 



8. How should EPA's monitoring be addressed? How should monitoring at 

 Mud Dump Sites be improved? 



EPA should demonstrate that the ocean disposal program is effective in preventing 

 unreasonable degradation at ocean disposal sites. EPA has been directed by the 1W2 

 WRDA bill to develop monitoring plans for all dump sites within the next several years, 

 but it may still be necessary for EPA to establish minimum monitoring standards and 

 guidance, which can undergo public review, to help set consistent monitoring efforts at 

 different dump sites. 



Any long term monitoring strategy should be designed that meets the needs of 

 individual sites but is uniform enough to allow comparison between sites. Minimum 

 funding requirements of monitoring efforts should identified and guaranteed to allow long 

 term planning. Analytical techniques should be uniform to ensure comparison among data 

 sets from different disposal sites. Adequate background data should be collected to 

 establish baseline conditions. Minimum standards should be established to allow managers 

 to know which conditions are no longer being met. 



9. When is capping appropriate for containing dredge material? 



The circumstances under which capping may be an effective means of containing 

 dredge material are either 1 ) that it is not the only means by which dredge material is 

 being contained, and 2) when it has been documented and proven to be an effective 

 means of containing material under site-specific circumstances. As mentioned in my March 

 30 testimony, the legality of capping material deemed unsuitable for ocean disposal is 

 disputable. 



The fact that sediments and biota at the Mud Dump Site are more contaminated 

 compared to sediments and biota in other parts of the New York Bight Apex indicates two 

 things, 1) that ocean dumping criteria was not stringent enough to prevent the ocean 

 disposal of material contaminated with pollutants and, 2) capping made little difference in 

 containing that material. It may also be that capping was not utilized to a great degree, 

 but if that is the case, the effectiveness of capping should be established before it is used 

 as the method of choice for managing contaminated dredged materials. 



10. Should the Corps' public response requirements be changed? 



Most certainly, the Army Corps of Engineers public response requirements should 

 be amended to make the agency more accountable to public comment. The only means by 

 which the public has in the ocean disposal permitting process is through commenting on 

 public notices and testifying before hearings. The Coips regulations should be amended in 



