739 
Finally, we recommend that some minimum fee or floor be set 
initially by the Congress for fiscal year 1983, such as $2 per wet 
ton, keeping open the options for adjustments in future years. 
Our estimate of a fee set at $2 per wet ton would yield in the 
range of $200 to $250 million for fiscal year 1983. 
Finally, with regard to H.R. 6324 and the proposed amendment, 
the Federation cannot recommend the establishment of the Ocean 
Waste Management Commission and Advisory Board contemplated 
by this proposal. 
We do not see any powers or authorities extended to this Com- 
mission that do not now reside in the executive branch already, 
and we feel that it would be preferable to deal with Agency short- 
comings more directly, in the reauthorization and appropriations 
process, oversight hearings and so on, and that a commission struc- 
ture and advisory board structure would not be a fully effective 
substitute for congressional oversight, and the concurrent public in- 
volvement in both the legislative and the administrative process. 
I would be glad to attempt to answer any questions you might 
have now, Mr. Chairman, either orally or for the record. 
[Mr. Osann’s statement follows:] 
PREPARED STATEMENT OF EDWARD R. OSANN, DIRECTOR, WATER RESOURCES PROGRAM, 
NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION 
My name is Edward Osann. I am the Director of the National Wildlife Feder- 
ation’s Water Resources Program. The Federation, with members and affiliate orga- 
nizations in all 50 states, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, is the nation’s 
largest citizen organization dedicated to the conservation and wise use of natural 
resources. 
During the past decade alone, our membership has adopted more than 50 resolu- 
tions establishing Federation policy on various aspects of water resource conserva- 
tion and development. Among these are resolutions in support of user fees to fully 
recover the costs of port and inland navigation projects. The Federation and its af- 
filiates have a history of working with state officials and the Federal construction 
agencies to resolve differences over water projects or policies. We have commented 
on scores of projects; we have litigated numerous times as well, in those instances 
where earlier efforts to resolve differences have failed. We have strongly supported 
legislative efforts, on both appropriations and authorizations, to redirect the Federal 
water resources development program. 
At this time, the Federation is in support of an amendment to H.R. 6113 provid- 
ing for the collection of user fees for ocean dumping, but opposed to the draft 
amendment to H.R. 6324 to establish an ocean waste management commission and 
an ocean waste management advisory committee. 
OCEAN DUMPING USER FEES—AN IDEA WHOSE TIME HAS COME 
The ocean has traditionally been a cost-free and convenient place to dump many 
materials which are hard to dispose of on land. Control over the ocean dumping of 
harmful materials was established by law ten years ago, with deadlines set to phase 
out the dumping of harmful sewage sludge. During 1980, 110 million tons of materi- 
al—sewage sludge, industrial waste, and dredge spoil—were dumped into the ocean 
under regulations and permits issued by the Corps of Engineers and the Environ- 
mental Protection Agency. The deadlines for stopping the dumping of harmful 
sewage sludge have been repeatedly postponed, and pressure is mounting to loosen 
standards and allow increased volumes of dumping in future years. 
Concurrently, the Federal government is facing its worst fiscal crisis in decades. 
Funding for a wide variety of domestic programs and regulatory activities is uncer- 
tain. The time has come to end this particularly inappropriate public subsidy for 
those entities which have opted to use the oceans for waste disposal. 
Through a rational system of user fees, the Federal government has the opportu- 
nity to promote both economic and environmental efficiency in the allocation and 
use of resources. The Federation has found in our review of many natural resource 
programs that resources that are underpriced are overused, and wasted rather than 
