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The purpose of this bill is to provide protection for our wildlife 
from the multiple threats posed by disposal of ever-growing quantities 
of waste. 
H.R. 17603 would provide such protection by requiring the Secre- 
tary of Interior to designate portions of our navigable waters and the 
Outer Continental Shelf wherein “sewage, sludge, spoil, or other 
waste can be safely discharged.” 
It is not, I hope, utopian to look toward the day when we shall not 
have to seek out portions of the earth to receive our trash, in what- 
ever form. Until that day, it makes a great deal of sense to localize 
the harmful effects of waste disposal to the maximum extent possible. 
Beyond indicating the places at which disposal may take place, the 
bill requires the Interior Secretary to develop standards applicable to 
the discharge. These standards are to be such as to insure that there 
will be no damage to, or loss of, wildlife. 
Provision is also made for the establishment of State standards 
which, if they are as stringent as those proposed by the Secretary, will 
take the place cf Federal standards. In this way, the States have the 
option of imposing conditions more exacting than those of the Federal 
Government. 
I believe most of us are in general agreement as to the need to pro- 
vide the most stringent of controls consonant with pollution abate- 
ment technology. We need to exercise the greatest caution in those 
areas in which we know the least, as the spreading concern with mer- 
cury poisoning of our fresh waters clearly indicates. 
The establishment of standards, which H.R. 17603 contemplates, 
could readily become a major safeguard not only to fish and game and 
other segments of the biota, but to man himself. 
Dr. George Woodwell of the Brookhaven National Laboratory in 
Upton, N.Y. wrote in Science this spring: 
The accumulation of various toxic substances in the biosphere is leading to 
complex changes in the structure and function of natural ecosystems. Although 
the changes are complex, they follow in aggregate patterns that are similar in 
many different ecosystems and are therefore broadly predictable. The patterns 
involve many changes but include especially simplification of the structure of 
both plant and animal communities, shifts in the ratio of gross production to 
total respiration, and loss of part or all of the inventory of nutrients. 
Mr. Chairman, we cannot allow these environmental ravages to con- 
tinue unchecked. 
Although there are frequent requests for more and more research 
on the problems of environmental deterioration, I feel that there is an 
even more pressing need for action. There is no consolation in learn- 
ing from try-it-and-see pollution activities that another species has 
become endangered or that some vital piece of habitat has been 
destroyed. 
This bill is a substantive new weapon to the arsenal of antipollu- 
tion forces. I recommend prompt and favorable consideration by this 
committee. 
Mr. Dincetu. We appreciate your fine statement, Mr. Halpern. 
The next witness will be the very able Representative from Florida, 
Hon. Bill Chappell. 
