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permission we will defer questioning of the Members of Congress until 

 they have finished, if there is no objection to that, because we have to 

 be ready at 11 o'clock to hear Chairman Train. 



Now, if you gentlemen have someithing that you would like to have 

 go on the record, you can appeal to the Chair to rescind that decision 

 I have just made. 



We welcome you, Mr. Murphy. 



STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN M. MURPHY, A REPRESENTATIVE IN 

 CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW YORK 



Mr. Mttrphy, Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



Since I last testified before this committee, the administration has 

 conducted a massive study of ocean dumping. In October of 1970, the 

 Council on Environmental Quality issued a complex report of its 

 findings and recommendations. I find myself in almost complete agree- 

 ment with them, at least as far as they go. 



This is not unusual as they follow the precepts that I outlined in 

 the bill I introduced 1 year ago and in my testimony before the com- 

 mittee on July 27, 1970. In the meantime, nothing much has been done 

 by the administration in the way of substantive action, and an addi- 

 tional 620 billion gallons of garbage have been dumped into New York 

 Harbor. 



During that year, another 16,400 billion gallons of industrial waste 

 were poured into our rivers, lakes, and coastal waters; 7,300 billion 

 gallons of waste water were pumped into our sewers. 



Lake Erie, one of our many "dead seas," received its annual 3 

 million tons of pollutants. 



Almost 40 million tons of dredge spoils were dumped on our coastal 

 waters, 14 million tons of which were polluted. 



Five million tons of industrial wastes polluted our seas. 



Four and a half million tons of sewage sludge were dumped at 

 sea, 4 million tons off New York Harbor alone. 



I will agree with the conclusion of the report that "the volume of 

 wastes dumped in the ocean is increasing rapidly, that many are 

 harmful or toxic to marine life, hazardous to human health, and 

 esthetically unattractive." 



However, I cannot and will not accept the conclusion of the report 

 that the volume of ocean-dumped wastes will "increase greatly" in 

 the future. We cannot let this happen. This committee has the power 

 to stop it. The solution, however, will not be found by creating more 

 pollution farther out to sea ; the solution will come from our scientists 

 and other ecology experts who must be given a firm mandate to find 

 new answers to the disposal of our cosmic trash problem. Otherwise, 

 we are all going to end up, those of us left alive, living on one gigantic 

 garbage pile. 



The issues are clear and simple. We are throwing too much of so- 

 ciety's excrement into our water and it is coming back to haunt us. 

 If I cannot appeal to you on esthetic or ecological grounds let me do 

 it on a gastronomical level. Your very lives may depend on it. 



How many would enjoy a lobster salad at lunch knowing that shell- 

 fish have been found containing hepatitis virus? How many would 



