POLLUTION FROM CRUISE SHIPS AND COAST 

 GUARD ENFORCEMENT 



TUESDAY, MAY 11, 1993 



House of Representatives, 

 Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Navigation, 

 Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, 



Washington, DC. 

 The Subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:07 a.m., in room 

 1334, Longworth House Office Building, Hon. Billy Tauzin (Chair- 

 man of the Subcommittee) presiding. 



Present: Representatives Tauzin, Hughes, Hochbrueckner, 

 Laughlin, Hastings, Coble, Castle, Diaz-Balart, Pombo. 

 Also Present: Representative Weldon. 



Staff Present: Elizabeth Megginson, Rusty Savoie, Matt Szigety, 

 Laurie Wilkerson, Jim Adams, Elnora Harvey, Joan Bondareff, Lee 

 Crockett, Brita Otteson, Tom Kitsos, Sue Waldron, Ed Lee, Rebecca 

 Dye, Margherita Woods, Harry Burroughs, Cyndi Wilkinson. 



STATEMENT OF HON. BILLY TAUZIN, A U.S. REPRESENTATIVE 

 FROM LOUISIANA, AND CHAIRMAN, SUBCOMMITTEE ON COAST 

 GUARD AND NAVIGATION 



Mr. Tauzin. The hearing will please come to order. Good morn- 

 ing. I have convened this oversight hearing to examine the effec- 

 tiveness of the Coast Guard's efforts to enforce our laws which pro- 

 hibit the dumping of garbage into the oceans. During the last 10 

 years, this committee reported and Congress enacted stringent leg- 

 islation designed to curb the use of our oceans and the waters as a 

 dump site. We passed an Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships in 

 order to give the Coast Guard authority to implement MARPOL. In 

 1987, we adopted amendments to APPS strengthening the law. 

 Those amendments are now referred to as the Marine Plastic Pol- 

 lution Research and Control Act of 1987. 



However, as illustrated by at least two well-publicized cases, ille- 

 gal dumping continues and will continue unless there is an aggres- 

 sive and consistent enforcement of these laws. My concern today is, 

 first, have we given the Coast Guard the tools it needs to enforce 

 the law? And, second, is the Coast Guard committed to enforcing 

 the law? 



We know based on past hearings that the dumping of plastics, in 

 particular, has severe and lasting impacts on the marine environ- 

 ment. We know that ingestion of plastics is a major cause of death 

 in marine animals of all types including endangered sea turtles. 

 There is simply no reason that plastics and garbage should be 



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