Vv 
KENNETH MOPPER, WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC 
INSTITUTION 
The land-sea interface has greater biological diversity 
and productivity than any other area in the world. * * * 
It is exactly at this interface that pollution and exploita- 
tion by man is causing severe and perhaps irreversible 
destruction to one of his major food supplies. Also, the 
potential for cultivating coastal regions to feed future 
generations can be greatly diminished by the continued 
practice of dumping highly toxic materials in the form of 
industrial and agricultural wastes into these waters. It is 
easy to say that the ocean can handle pollutants, even 
resistant ones such as chlorinated hydrocarbons (DDT 
and its derivatives) and radionuclides (plutonium-239, 
strontium-90, cesium-137) by its great dilution powers. 
However, such statements ignore the fact that there are 
processes in nature which can concentrate diluted pollut- 
ants to a point of being lethal to the organisms involved. Page 
Part lV Powerplant siting.im coastal areas... 2. 2 199 
Introduction 
A Ofishoretpowerplant sitingane oly iged) fa, Bry ie bgt 199 
DENNIS W. DUCSIK, MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF 
TECHNOLOGY 
It is estimated that, by 1980, the electric power indus- 
try will require about one-sixth of the total available fresh 
water runoff in the entire Nation for cooling purposes and 
this demand for water will continue to grow. While cooling 
towers and cooling ponds are technically feasible, they can 
involve cost increases of up to 20 percent of the capital 
cost of an installed generating plant * * * (The offshore 
concept) provides a viable alternative to land based power 
stations and can eliminate some of the most serious 
problems * * * faced in meeting our Nation’s increasing 
demands for electric power. 
