no 



-20- 



In the specific context of sewage sludge, Mr. Ruckelshaus 



stated that: 



The dumping of... materials, such as sewage 

 sludge . . . would be discontinued as soon as 

 possible, and no new sources of such 

 dumping would be allowed. 



These objectives and the concerns that motivated them 

 were appropriate in 1971, and in our view they remain 

 appropriate now. 



As we testified two weeks ago (on May 12) , in indicating 

 our support for the Breaux-Forsythe hazardous waste bill 

 (H.R. 1700), ocean dumping and dumping in landfills are no 

 more than short-term palliatives. They solve nothing. For 

 persistent toxic materials, of the sort present in contaminated 

 sewage sludges, dumping practices merely transfer risks to 

 those downstream or downcurrent, and to the future. In the 

 long-run it is far less costly from both an economic and an 

 environmental standpoint to deal effectively with such wastes 

 at the very outset, once and for all. 



We hope these Subcommittees (and the full Committee) will 

 adopt both the Huahes-Forsythe proposal and (the ocean dumping- 

 related aspects of) the Breaux-Forsythe bill. And we hope 

 the Subcommittees will also consider the additional amendments 

 I have advocated in my testimony. 



Thank you for the opportunity to present these views . 



