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ban on ocean dumping in the New York area on public health and 
the environment, and the absence of any serious consideration 
by EPA of these impacts on directing the City to go forward 
with a land-based alternative. 
In reauthorizing the Marine Protection Act this year, I 
emphatically urge the Committee to permit the process that has 
now been set in motion for sludge disposal to come to fruition. 
With respect to dredged materials from the Harbor, EPA's 
EIS indicates that designation of the Mud Dump Site in the 
New York Bight is the environmentally preferable alternative. 
In light of this analysis, it would be imprudent for this 
Committee to enact an outright ban on disposal of dredged material 
in the Bight, as the draft amendments would do, or to establish 
new criteria for disposal of dredged spoils in the ocean which, 
in essence, would ban ocean disposal. I can unequivocably 
state that no land sites are available in the New York area for 
storing these huge volumes of waste. In essence, it appears that 
the draft amendments would ultimately force the closure of New 
York Harbor -- with disastrous effects on the region's economy, 
-- for no discernible reason. Clearly, this would be a steep 
price to pay, especially when no environmental benefits will be 
forthcoming from such an action. 
With respect to disposal of sewage sludge, I want to re- 
iterate the absence of any scientific evidence that would justify 
SAS 
