526 
Mr. HuGues. With Lee White here, we have a good lawyer in the 
audience. 
Mr. GOLDBERG. We may need one, sir. On the basis of what we 
know now or what we knew in 1979, the New York Bight, if it is in 
steady state with respect to the entry of a variety of pollutants, can 
continue to receive these pollutants without endangering human 
health. 
Mr. Hucues. My time is up. 
Mr. Forsythe. 
Mr. ForsyTHE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 
I thank the panel, including our friend from New Jersey. 
Dr. Goldberg, the issue of trace metals has been discussed not 
only today, but during past hearings. Is it your understanding that 
there is a level of trace metals below which the impact on human 
health is negligible? 
Mr. GoLpBERG. I am concerned about specific metals impacting 
upon human health. We have for the marine environment one 
demonstrated case of that—mercury, which happened in Japan. I 
know of no marine site in the United States where the mercury 
levels impair human health today through the consumption of sea- 
food by the greatest eaters. 
Mr. ForsyTHE. The swordfish problem we had on the east coast 
IS over because of later information in that regard, wasn’t that 
true’ 
Mr. GOLDBERG. Primarily the information I received was anecdot- 
al about a woman who ate a pound of swordfish a day and claimed 
she had a disease. It was anecdotal. 
Mr. ForsyTHE. You mentioned your concern about the land-based 
aquifers and pointed out that there are aquifers where we may not 
know for 200 years what we have done to them. Obviously, this is a 
long-range kind of problem we'll have to face. We make decisions 
today which may take generations to see results. But we also have 
many aquifers, particularly in some areas of the Mid-Atlantic area, 
Long Island—New Jersey, which are very close to the surface. This 
problem is very important as we look at the alternatives and at 
what we are doing to these aquifers, is it not? 
Mr. GOLDBERG. I agree. 
Mr. ForsyTHE. Do you think we should place more emphasis on 
the aquifers for sludge disposal versus the oceans at this time? 
Mr. GoLpBERG. I don’t want to evade the question. I think an as- 
sessment has to be made versus ocean versus land disposal for each 
site and each material. 
Mr. ForsyTHE. Knowing what we do now, would you change 
what we are doing now to move disposal back onto the land, for 
instance, out of Passaic Valley? 
Mr. GOLDBERG. With conventional wisdom, no. 
Mr. ForsytTHE. It is also true, as I think Mr. Ricci pointed out, 
that they haven’t found a site for surface disposal. Do you agree 
we him regarding problems of air pollution from thermal destruc- 
tion? hens! 
Mr. GoLpBERG. Yes. One of the concerns that many of us had is 
the production of dioxins from the combustion of organic wastes in 
incinerators. 
