333 



^^^ NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION 



1412 Sixteenth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036 202—797-6800 



June 17, 1983 



The Honorable Norm D' Amours 



Member of Congress 



House of Representatives 



2242 Rayburn House Office Building 



Washington, D. C. 20515 



Re: Possible Alternative Deepwater Ocean Dumpsites for Sewage Sludge 



Dear Mr. D' Amours: 



On May 2 5th, at the Ocean Dumping hearings you chaired, the 

 National Wildlife Federation, along with witnesses for NOAA and EPA, 

 voiced support for phasing out the ocean dumping of sewage sludge 

 at the present 12-Mile Site, and (under various conditions) for 

 designating a new sewage sludge dumpsite in deep water at the edge 

 of the continental shelf. The EPA witness seemed to favor a shift 

 of the sludge dumping to the existing 106-Mile Dumpsite, which is 

 used for chemical waste dumping. He expressed the view that by 

 using different corners of the 106-Mile site for sludge and 

 chemical wastes an adequate separation could be achieved to avoid 

 interaction of the two wastes and to permit separate monitoring of 

 individual dumping fate and effects. On behalf of NWF , I expressed 

 a preference for an entirely separate sludge site and for a legislative 

 amendment which would preclude multiple types of wastes from being 

 ocean-dumped within the same dumping site. 



Following the hearing I did some checking into historical 

 deepwater dumpsites off the New York and New Jersey coasts. 

 Three such sites are referred to in the literature ( Attachment I^) , 

 although the first two of these may in fact be the same site. Of 

 these two or three sites, the one located 97 nautical miles off 

 Montauk Point, New York, which is portrayed on the accompanying 

 map ( Attachment II ) , seems the most promising. It would furnish 

 much more separation (if sludge were dumped there) from industrial 

 waste dumping at the 106-Site than would be possible within the 

 106-Site; it is of comparable depth and distance from shore in 

 relation to the 106-Site; yet it is more directly off the coasts 

 of New York and New Jersey which generate ocean-dumped sludge 

 (preserving the relationship to those states of the present 12-Mile 

 Site) , while being further removed from Maryland and Delaware which 

 do not ocean-dump sludge and object to sludge-dumping practices by 

 New York and New Jersey. 



48th ANNUAL MEETING MARCH I Miv, 1<IS4 I )n.ni inurnjiMinal H.Mrl. Ailanca C.i-.nma r|||^^ - --op- 



700% reclaimed paper JUIN - - '-'" 



