659 
Is Captain Swanson with us? I would appreciate it, Captain, if 
you would come to the table also, and we will have Mr. Eidsness 
first. 
STATEMENTS OF FREDERIC A. EIDSNESS, JR., ASSISTANT ADMIN- 
ISTRATOR FOR WATER, ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 
AGENCY, AND R. LAWRENCE SWANSON, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF 
MARINE POLLUTION ASSESSMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND 
ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION 
STATEMENT OF FREDERIC A. EIDSNESS 
Mr. E1psness. Good morning, Mr. Chairman, and members of the 
subcommittee. 
I am Frederic A. Ejidsness, Assistant Administrator of the Office 
of Water, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 
I am pleased and sincerely appreciate the opportunity to appear 
before you, Mr. Chairman and members of the other subcommit- 
tees, to discuss this important topic. This is the first time that an 
official representing the Reagan administration has appeared 
before you in this context and I particularly appreciate your open- 
ness and willingness to let us contribute early in the development 
of what I understand now is a staff draft proposal for a user fee 
system. 
I want you all to know that I want very much personally and so 
does Anne Gorsuch, the Administrator, to get going, establish and 
keep going a very close dialog and working relationship with you 
individually, and your staff members as well, over the months 
ahead and perhaps this is a good starting point for that. 
As you know, we in the administration want to establish a user 
fee system to recoup costs incurred in operating the ocean dumping 
program. This program is jointly administered by several Federal 
agencies including the EPA, the Corps of Engineers, the Coast 
Guard, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 
otherwise known as NOAA. 
Each of these agencies plays an important role in the various 
steps of program administration, including such activities as site 
designation, permitting and monitoring. These actions are done at 
considerable cost to the agencies of the Federal Government and 
are directly beneficial to disposers. It is for this reason that we 
strongly support a permit processing and a user fee system. 
The agency is not proposing to adopt a fee system as a “penalty” 
for ocean dumping. The fees we plan to collect are similar to the 
fees collected by private landfill operators to recoup their costs for 
site preparation and monitoring with the only difference that we 
are not seeking an increment for profit. 
Although we are enthusiastic in our support for a system of 
permit processing and user fees, we are concerned that the purpose 
and scope of the fee system be clearly stated and that the system 
wore efficiently. Such a user fee must conform to three basic prin- 
ciples. 
First, it must be administratable. That is, its administration 
should be simple and efficient, without creating unnecessary costs 
or burdensome procedures. 
