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1. INTRODUCTION 
In 1977, the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act 
(Public Law 92-532, commonly referred to as the Ocean Dumping Act) was 
amended so that ocean dumping of "harmful" sewage sludge would not be 
allowed after December 31, 1981. This Federal law defines "harmful" 
sewage sludge to be "... any solid, semisolid or liquid waste generated 
by a municipal wastewater treatment plant, the ocean dumping of which 
may unreasonably degrade or endanger human health, welfare, amenities or 
the marine environment, ecological systems or economic potentialities” 
(33 U.S.C. 1412a). The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) interpreted 
this requirement to prohibit all ocean dumping of sewage sludge. This 
interpretation was challenged by the City of New York in Federal court 
(The City of New York v. the EPA). 
New York City contended that the mandated 1981 deadline for ocean 
dumping of "harmful" sewage sludges should not apply to its sewage 
sludge even though the sludge was found to be harmful to the marine 
environment pursuant to EPA Ocean Dumping Criteria (Federal Register, 
1977), because the sewage sludge being dumped did not "unreasonably 
degrade" the marine environment of the New York bight. The City argued 
that in determining whether ocean dumping was unreasonable, EPA must 
evaluate alternatives and the effects of dumping at the dumpsite. Also, 
the City believes that the land-based alternatives are less socially and 
economically desirable than ocean dumping. The City contends that 
Congress defined "harmful" with the intent that the definition should be 
used in the development of criteria for ocean dumping sewage sludge and 
that EPA had failed to do this. The U.S. District Court-(Southern 
District of New York) ruled in New York City's favor. The decision on 
the case was that the 1981 deadline on ocean dumping of "harmful" sewage 
sludge would remain intact. However, the decision allows the continued 
ocean dumping of sewage sludge until there is an evaluation of whether 
this sewage sludge will cause "unreasonable" degradation in the context 
of all relevant environmental, social, and economic factors provided in 
Section 102 of the Act. Kamlet's (198la) review of the case has identi- 
fied several additional legal questions. 
