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ity in my district that barged sewage sludge to the ocean to be 

 dumped — has now ceased this practice. In January, Bridgeton stopped 

 ocean dumping and is now allowing private nurserys to pick up its 

 treated sewage sludge for use as fertilizer, one of the best available. 



(3) Until all dmnping can be phased out, the practice should and 

 can be regulated effectively w^ithout undue hardship. I have proposed 

 a simple permit system in my bill and am pleased to note this approach 

 is included in other legislation now before these subcommittees. Sim- 

 ply, no dumping could take place unless a permit is first obtained from 

 the En^dromnental Protection Agency (EPA). This permit would 

 only be issued if the EPA Administrator is satisfied that the proposed 

 dumping will not damage the marine environment. 



Additionally, H.R. 1561 establishes an immediate ban against dump- 

 ing anything between the Continental Shelf and the coast of the 

 United States. This is a reasonable requirement in my opinion, for it 

 is inside the first 75 to 100 miles that the current damage from ocean 

 pollution has been done. Congressional support for this minimun? 

 distance for dumping, effective immediately, will accomplish two 

 very important things. First, the immediate threat to fishing and 

 recreation will have been alleviated. In time, the nearshore ocean floor 

 will be cleansed by the flush of tidal action and therefore shellfish- 

 ing and commercial and sport fishing will improve. Next, the increased 

 distance a load of waste would have to be transported will tend to 

 discourage dumping and encourage development of land-based dis- 

 posal sites and facilities. 



I want to point out briefly that I have seen detailed proposals by a 

 private contractor showing that sewage sludge could be transported 

 100 miles offshore in the interim for approximately the same cost and 

 in approximately the same time it now takes to transport the sludge 

 only a few miles offshore. The idea is simple and sensible. It is to use 

 fast, high-capacity ships instead of slow, low-capacity barges to trans- 

 port the material. iBased on this, I am confident such a dumping mini- 

 mum as I propose will not pose an unsolvable problem to those who, 

 in fact, will be unable to stop dumping immediately altogether. 



(4) International regulations on ocean pollution are essential. In 

 the long run, even assuming the United States is eventually able to 

 phase out all dumping of pollutants in the oceans, cooperation from the 

 other nations of the world must be sought immediately. I urge this 

 committee, perhaps by a separate joint resolution, to urge adoption of 

 pollution abatement programs such as ours by the other countries and 

 through the various international organizations. 



(5) No arbitrary time limits for ending dmnping or allowing it 

 to continue should be included in this legislation. There are a variety 

 of proposals, Mr. Chairman, before Congress now to establish a specific 

 time b}^ which dumping will no longer be allowed. One bill asks 5 years ; 

 another says 2. My view is that more can be accomplished faster with- 

 out any arbitrary time limits. If the committee reports a proposal 

 that dumping shall be illegal after 5 years, for example, I am certain 

 many of the municipal and industrial polluters will take the full limit 

 to cease operations. I urge that scheduling be left up to the EPA 

 which will act on each case individually to establish phasing-out of 

 mean dumping. 



( 6 ) The traditional jurisdictional limits of the United States should 

 not be tampered within order to regulate ocean pollution. We simply 



