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conclusively that the beach pollution in 1976 was the result of land- 
based sources including a sewage treatment plant explosion, raw sewage 
discharges, combined sewer overflows, urban runoff, pier fires, and 
solid waste (garbage) barging operations within New York Harbor. 
Barged sewage sludge was, at most, a minor contributor-—-especially 
since properly operated primary and secondary sewage treatment oper- 
ations effectively remove the floatable materials from the sludge. 
NOAA published a comprehensive report which concluded that the much 
publicized 1976 anoxia event was basically a natural event exacerbated 
by unusual meteorological conditions. Although digested sewage sludge 
does contain oxygen-demanding constituents, EPA’s 1978 Environmental 
Impact Statement concluded "that ocean dumping of sewage sludge was 
not responsible for [this incident]: that it was at most a minor 
contributing factor." 
After nearly sixty years of continuous dumping at the 12-Mile Site, 
there has been no accretion of sewage sludge at the site and virtually 
no evidence that the New York Bight has been unable to assimilate 
these wastes. In 1974 newspaper and popular magazines reported that 
massive sewage sludge beds were moving towards Long Island beaches 
at rates of 0.7 nautical mile per year. These reports have not been 
supported by subsequent technical evidence and the consensus of the 
latest federal and state opinions on the "sludge monster" is reflected 
by NOAA’s Dr. R.L. Charnell who stated in a 1975 report that "no evi- 
dence for a front of sewage sludge approaching the Long Island shore 
was observed." 
