448 



Now, the concern expressed is that these concepts and requirements 

 might not be kept in mind under the administration of this act as they 

 would be under the administration of the National Environmental 

 Policy Act and National Estuarine Act, 



Mr. RucKELSHAus. I think we are clearly mandated to keep those 

 considerations in mind, and I think, given the present state of the law, 

 we have no ability to keep those considerations in mind in our ocean 

 policy, and we certainly would keep them in mind in the administra- 

 tion of this act. 



Mr. DiNGELL. Mr. Ruckelshaus, in the Great Lakes area you have 

 generally a freeze on open water dumping of polluted dredge spoil. 

 These spoils are deposited now, and must be deposited in closed, diked 

 areas. 



Is it your intention to continue that practice with regard to the 

 Great Lakes area ? 



Mr. Ruckelshaus. Mr. Dominick may be able to give you an answer. 

 He has been involved in this directly, and he may be able to give you 

 a better answer. 



Mr. DiNGELL. I would like your comments, if you please, Mr. 

 Dominick. 



Mr. Dominick. Mr. Chairman, I think the important legislation that 

 has directed activity in this area is the Rivers and Harbors Act of 

 1970, section 123 of that act which refers to alternate disposal sites 

 in the Great Lakes for the dumping of polluted dredge spoils. 



We are in the process of identifying now, with the Corps of Engi- 

 neers, those harbors where polluted dredge spoils are a significant 

 problem, and we have identified up to 40 or more at the present time. 



IVIr. DiNGELL. In fact, jo\\ have not got a single Great Lakes harbor 

 that does not have polluted dredge spoil in it. Is that not a fact? 



Mr. Dominick. I think most of them very definitely will have some 

 degree of pollution in them. We also want to evaluate whether addi- 

 tional dredging is going to be required in order to keep navigational 

 channels open. 



As that evaluation is completed, we will be making determinations 

 and referring tliese determinations to the Administrator on the avail- 

 al^ility of on-land disposal sites, and on the Federal and State or local 

 funding required to implement those alternative sites. 



Mr. DiNGELL. Mr. Ruckelshaus, on page 11, you mentioned toxic 

 industrial wastes. You may not wish to do so at this particular time, but 

 would you give this committee a definition of what those are, not neces- 

 sarily the exclusive definition, but one which would give us an under- 

 standing of how you interpret that particular word ? 



Mr. Ruckelshaus. Yes, we will. 



(The definition follows:) 



"Toxic Industrial Wastes" Definition 



"Toxic industrial waste" is a general term used to describe various materials 

 having the ability to produce harmful effects in living organisms. These materials 

 are dumped by industry either because there are no straig'ht forward or economi- 



