127 



are out there. Some of them have been referred to here today, some 

 outstanding pubHcations put forth by the Bellona Foundation 

 which are available. This is the one document that I would urge 

 people to contact Bellona for, which I first came on 2 years ago, I 

 guess, when it was first released. 



OTA did an outstanding study which was just released this past 

 fall and that also is available through the Office of Technology As- 

 sessment. 



Several of the publications that you mentioned, we have already 

 highlighted, but they also, I think, are worthwhile, and a publica- 

 tion by Murray Feshbock from Georgetown University also, I think, 

 sums up the problem and is worth considering, as well as this doc- 

 ument which I referred to earlier from the Ajnerican Association 

 for the Advancement of Science on "Ocean Pollution in the Arctic 

 North", another publication available. 



I think we have raised a lot of interesting points. We have a sta- 

 tus report on what is happening, both within our Cjovernment and 

 internationally. We have a real commitment here that we are mak- 

 ing to follow through. In our second hearing, we will look at broad- 

 er ways that we can perform dual use cooperation in understanding 

 the ocean and working with the military, but I will continue to fol- 

 low through as a personal priority of mine the support to keep this 

 Arctic research program underway and to assist the Russians with 

 this terrible problem of disposing of their nuclear wastes. 



I thank all of you for coming in. 



Mr. Weldon. With that I would invite our fourth panel to step 

 up to the table, Dr. Philip Valent from the Naval Research Labora- 

 tory, Stennis Space Center; John Edmond, professor of geo- 

 chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Dr. 

 Fred Grassle, director. Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences 

 from Rutgers University; and Ms. Beth Millemann, executive direc- 

 tor of the Coast Alliance. 



Let me welcome you all to the subcommittees and apologize for 

 making you sit through a rather long hearing. We try to combine 

 the hearings to take advantage of the two subcommittees coming 

 together, and also at the request of Chairman Jim Saxton, my good 

 friend from New Jersey. 



Unfortunately, Jim is tied up on the floor, at least temporarily, 

 with the same issue that was raised by Congressman Frank 

 Pallone, a very important issue on the floor right now relative to 

 one of our appropriation bills. He will join us when that act has 

 been completed, but I understand it is causing a great deal of con- 

 troversy, as you might imagine, at the eleventh hour among the 

 members. 



We are extremely concerned about the abyssal waste plain dis- 

 posal plan and the panel that we have assembled here today we 

 think will give us some insights into where we are going. In 1992, 

 the former Coast Guard Navigation Subcommittee held a hearing 

 on the enforcement of the ocean dumping ban and on research and 

 development of waste management technology that could place ma- 

 terial on the abyssal plain. The Naval Research Laboratory has 

 also undertaken work to assess the environmental feasibility of the 

 isolation of dredged material, sewage sludge, and municipal incin- 



