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When I talk about moving material further offshore, in any way, 
I am simply saying that is only an interim measure, that we cannot— 
and this is only my personal opinion, it does not necessarily reflect the 
Department of Interior thinking—regard these modes of operation as 
permanent. These would be interim measures until such time as we can 
ecologically recycle materials on the land. 
Now, I don’t pretend to be an absolute authority on resources, but 
I will soon teach a course on resources at Rutgers. I have been doing a 
great deal of reading. This country is becoming desperately short of 
many resources. It does not make sense to throw car bodies in the sea 
or to discharge our organic wastes into the ocean where they cannot 
be assimilated. These should be returned to our environment again, 
as it was mentioned this morning, possibly to the fields in the South 
which have been rendered infertile because of past agricultural prac- 
tices. Even in New Jersey we have pine barrens. In many cases these 
were cut and farmed at one time. These areas can be enriched by 
organic wastes from our metropolitan areas. This is within the realm 
of feasibility ; it will be a necessity in a few decades. 
If we say it can’t be done or it is too difficult, I am convinced that 
it won’t be done. If this happens, the human race, all of us living 
today, will suffer the consequences. I think that we have to look toward 
positive goals; and rather than saying it can’t be done, if it appears 
it needs to be done, then immediately try and expedite the arrange- 
ments. 
Mr. Dincett. And find a way to do it. 
Dr. Pearce. And find a way to do it, but in many cases the ways 
exist. Some will say that a particular system is only a small pilot pro- 
ject; if they can use waste material in one instance, it is possible to do 
it on a mass production basis. When someone made the first car, we 
didn’t say we would never have automobiles simply because only one 
car had been made. We went ahead and built a whole industry on the 
basis of a small idea that the car could replace the horse someday. 
Ecologically compatible sewage treatment can today replace the 
systems that we have been using. We are working in the horse-and- 
buggy age with regard to waste disposal, but with a little in- 
genuity—and this is being applied; I have talked to people in the 
Bureau of Solid Waste Management and FWQA where there are 
people who believe we can do these things if we have the public sup- 
port—we can develop new systems. First of all, you as Congressmen 
must have the support of your constituency before you can take any 
great leaps forward. Once you have done that, then you can implement 
the various Federal agencies and the State agencies who can carry 
out these systems; but it is a tremendous program. To improve or even 
keep our environment at the present level makes the development of 
the atom bomb look small by comparison. 
I have talked to scientists from many universities and research in- 
stitutions, so these aren’t just my own ideas. Rather they are ideas that 
have been generated through a wide number of discussions; if, how- 
ever, we don’t take steps and do it immediately, then I have wasted 
my time coming here today, and this whole hearing has been a waste. 
It is my feeling that we must carry these actions out, and we can’t 
wait a half decade or a decade. They have to be done now, and they 
