479 



istration, a member of these two committees for the past 4 years ; Mr. 

 James Brennan, who is Acting Assistant General Counsel for the 

 Department of Commerce. Mr. Howard Eckles of NOAA, Dr. Don- 

 ald Martineau of NOAA, and Dr. Robert Hanks, also of NOAA, 

 helping us to support answers, possibly, to questions of your interest. 



Mr. DiNGELL. Thank you very much, sir. 



Mr. Wakelin, you are certainly welcome. This committee recalls 

 your presence before us on other days, and it is always a pleasure to 

 welcome you back, as it is our old friend, Mr. Pollock, for whom I have 

 great personal affection. 



Mr. Wakelin. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am delighted to be 

 here. It is a privilege to be before this distinguished committee to 

 testify in support of H.R. 4723, and also H.R. 4247. These identical 

 bills would enable the Administration to proceed with its plan to regu- 

 late all types of ocean dumping and to prevent or vigorously limit 

 dumping of any material which could adversely affect human health, 

 welfare, or amenities, the marine ecologj^, or economic potential. 



In April 1970 President Nixon indicated his concern about the 

 dumping of waste into the ocean. The Chairman of the Council on 

 Environmental Quality was asked to work wdth other Federal agen- 

 cies and with State and local governments on a comprehensive study 

 of ocean dumping that would result in appropriate recommendations 

 for research, legislation, and policy. A report of the Council released 

 in October of last year stated that serious information deficiencies 

 exist and that research is required to understand the pathway of waste 

 material in marine ecosystems. 



While we can point to examples where continued unregulated 

 dumping over a long period of time have led to ecological damage 

 to waters adjoining our coastlines, we still have insufficient detailed 

 knowledge to state accurately what is happening to our ocean environ- 

 ment or to set fully adequate regulations. 



To more accurately predict the present and future impact of ocean 

 dumping on the marine environment and set the most desirable 

 standards for regulating it, we must identify materials potentially 

 harmful to the marine ecosystem and conduct oceanographic surveys 

 to establish baseline conditions and variations as a consequence of 

 dumping. 



I am not suggesting that efforts to establish regulations or stand- 

 ards in the environmental field must await our complete mastery of 

 the ecological sciences. The time to act is now. Regulation of ocean 

 dumping should be based upon evaluation of the criteria stated in 

 section 5 ( a) of H.R. 4723. 



However, recognizing that the ecological knowledge available 

 upon which to develop such regulations is far from complete we believe 

 that regulations governing ocean dumping will be refined and adjusted 

 as our knowledge grows. 



H.R. 4723 provides the essential criteria for developing appropriate 

 regulations but does not specify the regulations in detail. This, we 

 believe, is appropriate in view of the current state of our knowledge. 



You have under your consideration several bills which would control 

 ocean dumping in a variety of ways and would place responsibility 

 for the control of ocean dumping in one of several departments. The 



