505 
sludge contributes nearly one-third of the loading due to dredge 
material.” 
So I think that that pretty much amplifies some of the comments 
being made by Mr. Hughes. 
Mr. HuGues. I just refer you to page 15 of the report I referred 
to. 
The 26 municipal permit holders in the New York-northern New 
Jersey area were dumping sewage sludge containing either cadmi- 
um or mercury that exceeded by more than 100 times the estab- 
lished safety levels. 
Dr. SEGAR. Somewhere in the report it has to refer to what the 
established safety levels are. First, you are talking about concen- 
trations in the sludges. Concentrations of cadmium and mercury in 
the environment do not exceed safe levels. There is no evidence 
that the concentrations in marine organisms in the New York 
Bight are any higher than in other parts of our coastal zone. 
The safety levels to which you refer, I suspect, are, in fact, the 
interim mercury and cadmium criteria that were incorporated in 
the EPA regulations. Those criteria were extremely stringent inter- 
im criteria when they were established. In fact, for the cadmium 
case they were established on the basis of analysis of a small 
number of sediments, all from the Pacific Ocean. Those criteria do 
not any longer apply. 
Mr. Hucues. What should the criteria be? What do you think the 
safety levels should be? 
Dr. SEGAR. We are, Congressman, very comfortable with the cur- 
rent criteria in the EPA regulations which in fact use bioassay and 
bioaccumulation testing to decide whether, in fact, those contami- 
nants have any impact on the environment. Cadmium and mercury 
are both natural constituents of the environment. 
The largest source of mercury to the environment is volcanoes. 
Mr. Hucues. And the concentrations are deposited in sludge. Are 
you suggesting to us that we are not dumping any more cadmium 
or mercury in the bight area than would be there anyway? 
_ Dr. Secar. I am suggesting that the quantities that we are 
SET mE in sewage sludge certainly are so small as to be negligi- 
e. 
Mr. Wuire. It sounds like, Congressman, that we ought to be able 
to put together a response, based on what some of the people we 
have retained as scientific consultants tell us. Because those 
charges are not something I think any of our agencies would want 
to ignore and we are dedicated really to finding out. We know al- 
ready that there are some sludges that are not acceptable and that 
would weigh heavily with our group. 
I don’t think there is any doubt about it. They are not irresponsi- 
ble people. So, if we can, I would like to take the various citations 
and see what they are and determine whether our assumption that 
there is a general scientific belief that we are not very well in- 
formed about the impact of sludge on the ocean is correct. 
If we are wrong on that then we need to back off. 
Dr. SEGAR. Congressman, I would point out that all of those sci- 
entific issues will be addressed at considerable depth at consider- 
ae cost to both the agencies and the National Wildlife Feder- 
ation. 
11-267 O—82——33 
