97 



Finally, as to the potential easing of anti-dumping 

 pressures if the sludge dump were moved further offshore, 

 recent events might afford a basis for giving less 

 emphasis to this concern. Specifically, the degree and 

 intensity of public and congressional interest in evidence 

 at EPA's May 10, 1983, public hearinq on the proposed final 

 designation of the 106-Mile Site as an EPA-approved ocean 

 dumping site, suggests that significant political resistance 

 does exist even to ocean dumping carried out a hundred 

 miles from the nearest land. While such resistance may not 

 be as strong as for dumping closer to shore (and is 

 certainly not as strong as resistance to dumping on land, 

 particularly in populated areas) , the fact that such intense 

 feeling persists may give cause for hope that an unbridled 

 out-of -sight, out -of -mind mentality will not be the principal 

 driving force in a choice between ocean dumping options. 



A few general points should be made . 



First, as a legal matter, under both the Ocean Dumping 

 Law and the London Dumping Convention , the crucial inquiry 

 must be whether a given sewage sludge (or other waste) 

 proposed for ocean dumping can be shown to be inherently 

 suitable for ocean dumping — quite apart from where in the 

 ocean the dumping occurs. Under the Ocean Dumping Law, for 

 example, mandatory evaluation factors include such waste- 

 specific factors as "the persistence and permanence of the 

 effects of the dumping" and "the effect of dumping particular 

 volumes and concentrations of such materials." (This is even 



