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Another encouraging aspect of our attempts to control ocean dump- 

 ing is the recent announcement by Department of Defense Secretary 

 Laird that no more military chemicals or munitions would be dumped 

 into the ocean and that alternative, ecologically safe methods would 

 be developed for future disposal of such agents. 



We have come a long way in the period since last year's dumping 

 of obsolete nerve gas by the Department of the Army in the Atlantic 

 Ocean ojff the coast of Florida. The volatile condition of the material 

 left us with no choice in the matter. 



Still, these are voluntary restraints. The third part of my package 

 of legislative proposals, Mr. Chairman, which could be before this 

 committee and I think it will be, now pending before the House Armed 

 Services Committee, would require that before any new munition of 

 a chemical or biological nature is added to the U.S. arsenal there 

 must first be submitted to EPA and approved a date by which the 

 material must be disposed and the means of disposal. In addition, the 

 Department of Defense would be required to inventory all such muni- 

 tions on hand, the future disposal of which might present a potential 

 harm to mankind or the environment. Now, the thrust of that is so 

 obviously logical, Mr. Chairman, that I wonder that we have not 

 done it before but maybe it is like the safety pin. 



Legislation of this kind will prevent us from again finding ourselves 

 in the untenable position of having tons of a lethal agent in a volatile 

 condition, with the ocean as the least objectionable place to get rid 

 of it. 



One of the deficiencies in the administration's bill, it seems to me, 

 Mr. Chairman, is its provision that : 



Nothing in this act shall prohibit any transportation for dumping or dumping 

 of material where such transportation or dumping is necessary, in an emer- 

 gency, to safeguard human life. 



Now, that sounds like an easy, necessary provision, but on the other 

 hand it might be an out. It seems to me that if we could take the cau- 

 tions in advance for the inventory of those dangerous agents, decide 

 on the methods of disposal, the time of disposal scientifically, that we 

 would eliminate if not all at least a substantial part of the emergency. 



As you can see, H.R. 4719 is an integral part of a three-pronged leg- 

 islative attack which in its entirety forms an effective control and 

 regulation of the various and harmful practices of ocean dumping. I 

 am pleased that more than 65 of our colleagues have joined me in the 

 sponsorship of these proposals. 



I am also cosponsoring a bill which combines the provisions of the 

 bill before this committee and the bill which I have referred to earlier 

 about the defense inventory which got before the Armed Services 

 Committee, and I hope this committee can consider that joint bill. 



In the face of a problem as potentially dangerous as ocean dump- 

 ing, however, the important thing is not who sponsors the legislative 

 remedy but how effective the legislation is in protecting the environ- 

 ment and the citizens of this Nation. I am confident that this com- 

 mittee will report out an effective bill. 



Mr. Chairman, let me just remind you by quoting from the sum- 

 mary of the findings of the Council on Environmental Quality's re- 

 port on ocean dumping in which they say : 



fThe Nation has an opportunity unique in history — the opportunity to act to 

 prevent an environmental problem which would otherwise grow to a great mag- 



