495 
A consensus exists within the scientific community that the 
environmental problems that are encountered in ocean disposal 
are no more significant than those encountered in utilization 
of sludge on the land, and often are cOnsiderably less. For 
example, the marine science community generally agrees that 
while cadmium is a potentially severe problem in land-based 
disposal methods utilizing incineration or spreading of sludge 
on farm lands, this same cadmium is considerably less of a problem 
in the oceans because of the oceans! ability to lock cadmium up 
in ocean sediments permanently. 
As mentioned earlier in this statement, the view has been ex- 
pressed that if the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries 
Act (MPRSA) is not amended, ocean disposal will always be selected 
as the method of choice since it is generally economically pre- 
ferable to land-based disposal. However, the MPRSA, as currently 
written, precludes a determination from being made on that single 
ground. The Administrator, in determining whether to grant a 
permit, may consider economics only as one factor among many. It 
is unreasonable to believe that EPA would issue a permit for dis- 
posal of sewage sludge in the ocean simply because it was less 
expensive, if the environmental and human health consequences 
of ocean disposal were clearly more serious than those of alter- 
native disposal methods. 
In 1977 the MPRSA was amended to institute a statutory dead- 
line of December 31, 1981, beyond which the Administrator could 
not issue permits for ocean dumping of sewage sludge which failed 
to meet the unreasonable degradation standard. This amendment 
was adopted in the wake of environmental disasters in the New 
York Bight during 1976, including a major anoxia (depletion of 
oxygen) and the closing of beaches due to the wash-up of floatable 
materials which included materials derived from sewage effluents. 
Little was known in 1977 about the causes of these incidents but 
it was thought in Congress that if sewage sludge were responsible 
then it surely must fail the unreasonable degradation standard, 
and that the dumping of such sludge must cease by 1982. 
The fears that sewage sludge dumping may have been contributed 
to the severe incidents of 1976 have since been refuted by solid 
evidence. This evidence demonstrates that the environmental 
effects of ocean disposal of sewage sludge are minimal and that 
sewage sludge did not contribute to any of the incidents in 1976. 
NEW SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION 
Since 1977 there has been a sustained effort within the marine 
science community to assess available information, and to carry out 
research related to information gaps on the impacts of putting 
sewage sludge in the ocean. Some highlights of these efforts are: 
1. NOAA published a report which showed that the 1976 anoxia 
in the New York Bight was a natural event, caused by unusual cli- 
Matic conditions. If sewage sludge, put in the New York Bight, 
