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tlie estuaries and coastal waters for the disposal of various kinds of 

 waste materials of our population and our expanding technology. 



These waters are of tremendous importance to mankind. There are 

 multiple demands for the use of these waters, and some uses are com- 

 patible with others and some exclude others. 



Transportation and fishing are classical nonexclusive uses of estu- 

 arine and coastal waters. 



The need for animal protein which is provided by our marine fish- 

 eries steadily increases, as our population expands. 



Most fisheries products are harvested from these coastal waters and 

 estuaries and the success of the fisheries depends upon these waters for 

 breeding grounds. 



The survival of these fisheries must be assured. Our increasing af- 

 fluence makes it inevitable that we must also protect the quality of 

 these waters for recreational and esthetic purposes. 



Waste disposal is one use of these waters which carries the ever- 

 present threat of degrading the quality and of prohibiting other uses. 



Probably any disposal operation at sea would have some impact 

 upon the marine ecological system. 



The effects may range from negligible to disastrous. I believe that 

 the disposal of toxic industrial wastes, of chemical and biological war- 

 fare materials and of high-level radioactive wastes at sea should be 

 prohibited. 



As this committee knows from previous hearings the disposal of 

 sewage sludge and dredging spoils in the New York Bight has had 

 disastrous effects on the bottom populations there. 



Dr. Pearce testified before this committee last July that the affected 

 area appears to be expanding with continued dumping. In cases like 

 these, the evidence is already clear that disposal of waste materials 

 at sea can be seriously detrimental. 



I urge the committee to consider including specific instructions to the 

 Administrator when the damaging effects of disposal operations are 

 already well known. Some operations should be prohibited; others 

 should be phased out as rapidly as alternative methods of disposal can 

 be developed. 



Instructions to the Administrator are included in subsection (4) 

 of H.R. 3662 which was introduced by Mr. Rogers but is not in the 

 administration bill. 



Very few disposal operations have been adequately studied. I know 

 of only one case where continuing scientific studies have failed to pro- 

 duce evidence of a detrimental effect of a waste disposal operation at 

 sea. 



And this is the National Lead Co. discharge of acid-iron wastes in 

 which I was personally involved in some of the early studies. 



We have looked at this operation over the last 20 years and the most 

 recent studies by members of the staff of the Woods Hole Oceano- 

 graphic Institution, were made last summer, when an effort was made 

 to discover why the so-called "acid-grounds" are now good areas for 

 blue fishing. We were unable to find an explanation for the good 

 fishing, but neither were our scientists able to find anv evidence of 

 ecological damage from this operation, even though it has beei^ car- 

 ried on now for a period of over 20 years. 



