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perceived "waste crisis" has been to jump first and think later. Deep ocean dumping would 

 leave another waste legacy to our grandchildren and great-grandchildren, who are already 

 burdened with the problems created to date. 



3. There is no need to begin waste dumping in the deep ocean as economically and 

 environmentally preferable waste disposal, prevention and reuse options exist and are being 

 further developed. 



Clean-up technologies are being developed through the Great Lakes and New York-New 

 Jersey programs. While they are not currently ready for commercial application, they are 

 moving toward that goal. It is quite possible that launching a deep ocean dumping industry will 

 take as long as getting the decontamination technologies to a position of commercial readiness. 



Even in the absence of clean-up methods, new disposal and reuse options are reducing 

 the volume of waste proposed for deep ocean dumping. For example, some ports are avoiding 

 ocean dumping by using approaches such as creating new subaqueous pits for storage of 

 contaminated sediments. The Port of New York-New Jersey is investigating this option for 

 storage of polluted dredged materials. The Port of Boston has decided to avoid ocean dumping 

 of problem sediments and is, instead, creating a disposal pit in one of its channels. On-site 

 disposal options are also being pursued by the Port of Seattle and some of the Great Lakes ports. 

 Some sediments are being treated to the point that they are suitable for landfill cover, thereby 

 becoming an asset, not an encumbrance. 



With everything banned for ocean disposal except dredged materials, the need for 

 embarking on a massive new ocean dumping program is completely absent. 



4. Waste dumping in the deep ocean could harm living marine resources and industries 

 dependent on them. 



The New York Times and other publications, including Smithsonian and BioScience 

 magazines, have reported new scientific breakthroughs regarding the incredible diversity and 

 richness of the deep ocean. As well as threatening the plants and animals that live in the abyssal 

 plain and elsewhere in the deep ocean, waste dumping activities would threaten animals that live 

 closer to shore. For example, ships hauling 55 million pounds of waste would sail for huge 

 distances through areas used by endangered and threatenal marine mammals. These areas are 

 also rich commercial and recreational fisheries. If a spill or leak were to occur in transit, the 

 impacts could be disastrous. In addition, the action of dumping hundreds of million-pound bags 

 through miles of water onto the seafloor could have catastrophic impacts. At a bare minimum, 

 life on the ocean floor would be smothered or crushed by the bags landing intact or breaking 

 apart on impact. Waste bags tossed into ocean waters also threaten the delicate microlayer of 

 the sea, which is a thin zone of water and air which supports foodchain basics like 

 phytoplankton. The dumping activities ~ transportation, water dumping and seabed landing - 



