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Sewage sludge dumping at the IZ-Mile Site by New York City, Nassau and 

 Westchester Counties, and six New Jersey sewerage authorities is currently 

 authorized under provisions of Federal court orders. Under the final 

 judgments issued by the court, EPA is required to: 



revise its ocean dumping regulations to require a "balancing" of 

 environmental risks associated with land-based and ocean disposal 

 methods; 



respond to petitions by existing municipal dumpers to redesignate 

 the Bight Apex (12-Mile) Sewage Sludge Dump Site; and 



take action (only after completion of action on the petitions) on 

 permit applications for continued ocean dumping. 



The Agency initiated action on the petitions to redesignate the 12-Mile 

 Site late in 1982. EPA notified the petitioners on December 9 that 

 insufficient information had been submitted to support redesignation of the 

 site. Since the "burden of proof" is on the petitioners, additional 

 information was requested to be supplied by May 2, 1983, to support the 

 contentions raised in the petitions and to address EPA's site designation 

 criteria (40 CFR Part 228). On December 20, 1982, EPA solicited public 

 comments in the Federal Register on the petitioners' request for rulemaking 

 to amend the ocean dumping regulations to redesignate the 12-Mile Site. 



