460 



NOAA has sought to work with other agencies which are in- 

 volved in radionucUde research whenever possible. In particular, 

 over the past several months NOAA researchers have been infor- 

 mally discussing with scientists from EPA areas where NOAA may 

 coordinate with EPA on investigations of low-level radioactive 

 waste disposal. We look forward to reaching agreement with EPA, 

 as we do with DOE, on the studies in this area. 



That concludes my prepared statement, Mr. Chairman. I will be 

 pleased to answer any questions you may have. 



Mr. Studds. Thank you. 



I must say, one wonders, if this is the fate of research considered 

 to be a medium to high priority, what happens to that considered 

 to be less than medium to high? I assume it's simply 



Mr. Walsh. It's a zero sum game, Mr. Chairman. Every time a 

 problem comes up, as long as you're dealing with a finite amount 

 of resources in terms of people, computers, scientists, ships, the 

 Alvin, or whatever, you've got to make some choices. The way we 

 look at it, in many cases we're sitting there with one fire engine 

 and five fires. We can choose only one of the fires. Obviously, four 

 of the people with fires are going to be very unhappy with us. But 

 it's just a question of resources and what we know at the time. 



Let me emphasize that 100 years ago people still believed that 

 open sewers were not a health problem. We have learned some- 

 thing since then. We built open sewers back then, but now we 

 don't; we now understand there are health problems associated 

 with open sewers. So it all becomes a question of what you know. If 

 you're not comfortable with what you know, you have to start 

 doing more research. And that's going to be expensive, particularly 

 if you deal with the ocean. 



Mr. Studds. I knew the answer to that question. I simply wanted 

 it on the record, and I will refer it to the minority members of the 

 subcommittee so they, in turn, can relay it to the people moving 

 into town. 



Let me backtrack a second. In your section generally on low-level 

 wastes, it is replete with statements about a lack of evidence indi- 

 cating environmental damage resulting from low-level waste. 



Mr. Walsh. Yes, sir. 



Mr. Studds. It does not, however, cite any convincing evidence 

 that environmental damage does not occur as a result of the dump- 

 ing of that waste. 



Have you got it perhaps backward there? Are we assuming too 

 much? 



Mr. Walsh. Well, what happened is that the scientists will sit 

 down and take a look at all the research that has been done, and 

 generally what is understood about the processes, and draw a 

 judgment as to what they know. 



The quality of that judgment depends of course, on the quality of 

 the data base and the quality of the understanding of the environ- 

 mental factors. As we have said to you time and time again before 

 this committee, the natural processes in the ocean, how the ecology 

 works, and the pathways, of pollutants through it, are areas not 

 fully understood. Identifying cause and effect is difficult in the 

 ocean, whether you are talking about oil spills or the loss of fish 

 next year. 



