142 



Mr. T. A. Wastler, Chief /Marine Protection Branch 

 Page 2 



If not, it may be premature to designate a site to receive hypothetical 

 future sludges. If there is sludge which is not unreasonably degrading, 

 the question should be whether it makes sense to place relatively 

 uncontaminated sewage sludge at the 106- Mile Site rather than at 

 the closer-to-shore 12-Mile Site — or, for that matter, whether it 

 makes sense to put such sludge in the ocean at all. 



Although the District Court in the City of New York case 

 concluded that the "unreasonable degradation" determination 

 encompasses factors beyond environmental impact considerations 

 (including factors, such as comparative economics, which might 

 differ as between the 12- and 106-Mile sites) , this interpretation 

 appears to be at odds with the legally binding mandates of the 

 London Diimping Convention (a factor not addressed by the court in 

 the City of New York case) . This very issue is currently under 

 — adjudication in National Wildlife Federation v. Gorsuch , Civ. Action 

 No. 82-4314F, D.N.J, (con^laint filed December 22, 1982). 



-2^ Appropriateness of Dumping Sludge and Industrial Wastes 



at the Same Site 



In view of EPA's desire (and legal obligation) to manage 

 dumping at the 106-Mile Site in a manner which permits "further 

 studies of the site and careful monitoring of the impacts of... 

 ■ disposal at the site" (47 F.R. 56664), one may well question 

 whether combining municipal emd industrial waste dtimping at the 

 same site will further or frustrate this monitoring objective. 

 Els ewher e^ the Ocean Dumping Criteria wisely specify that "sites 

 designated for the ocean dumping of dredged material . . . shall be 

 used only for the ocean diamping of dredged material..." 

 {§ 228.4(e) (3)). Mixing of different waste classes as proposed 

 in the notice may be no more defensible in the present instance. 



3. Need to Avoid Premature Foreclosure of Options 



As a result of the City of New York litigation, and of consent 

 orders in six New Jersey cases (which did not address the legal 

 merits) , ocean dumping of sewage sludge at the 12-Mile Site has 

 been authorized to continue unless and until EPA decides: (a) not 

 to extend the designation of the 12-Mile Site; (b) to relocate 

 sludge dumping to the 106-Mile Site; or (c) to require current 

 sludge dumpers to implement land-based alternativeiS . 



The full range of EPA's legal options and obligations is 

 unclear, however, because: (a) EPA is in the process of revising 

 its Ocean Dumping Criteria (which will largely determine which 

 sludges, if any, are suitable for ocean dumping); (b) the outcome 

 of the National Wildlife Federation litigation will determine the 

 legitimacy of considering non-environmental impact criteria in 

 selecting ocean dumpsites and in approving individual ocean dumping 

 proposals (it may also ha^v^e a major bearing on the practical ability 

 of New Jersey mauncipalities to implement land-based alternatives 



