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manner, which recognizes the needs and particular circumstances 
surrounding disposal in different communities and truly serves 
the public health and environmental goals we all share. We must 
also take note of our shrinking fiscal resources and energy 
supplies. Clearly, we should not be diverting hundreds of 
millions, or even billions, of dollars away from constructing 
wastewater treatment plants in order to build composting 
facilities that yield no environmental benefits, or may even pose 
significant environmental problems to the public. 
Only a little more than one year ago, the National Advisory 
Committee on Oceans and Atmosphere (NACOA) issued a report to 
the President and the Congress entitled "The Role of the Ocean 
in a Waste Management Strategy" pursuant to their legislative 
mandate to undertake a continuing review of, among other things 
national ocean policy and the status of marine science. Surely 
NACOA cannot be accused of slighting the need to take necessary 
steps to protect our marine resources and ecosystems. This 
report was the culmination of a two year effort to formulate 
recommendations on the use of the ocean as a waste disposal 
medium. 
Among the most prominent and important recommendations in 
the NACOA report is the recommendation that the Congress and the 
Executive Branch adopt an integrated approach to waste manage- 
ment which would modify the existing medium-by-medium approach 
to disposal and encourage policies which minimize risks to human 
health and the environment. 
