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Q. Given the recent adopted amendments to U.S. law imposing a 

 moratorium on ocean disposal of low-level wastes, would you 

 please elaborate on how the Department of State intends to 

 fulfill its Congressional mandate in section 109 of the Ocean 

 Dumping Act to support specific proposals in international fora 

 in furtherance of U.S. policies, with particular reference to 

 the moratorium. 



A. Section 109 of the MPRSA reads: 



"The Secretary of State, in consultation with the 



Administrator, shall seek effective international action 



and cooperation to insure protection of the marine 



environment, and may , for this purpose formulate, present, 



or support specific proposals in the United Nations and 



other competent international organizations for the 



development of appropriate international rules and 



regulations in support of the policy of this Act." 



(emphasis added). 



The Department is presently seeking effective international 



cooperation to protect the marine environment in general and 



with respect to dumping in particular, on both a global and 



regional basis. We are an active participant in the LDC and 



international organizations concerned with dumping and have 



recently signed the Convention for the Protection of the Marine 



Environment for the Wider Caribbean Region which contains a 



dumping provision. Throughout negotiation of the latter 



convention, we strongly encouraged other states to become party 



to the global convention, the LDC. The Department is also 



