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the consequence of the regiilation is that the ballast is taken off of a 

 tanker and put into some sort of a purification plant at the dock, and 

 what is discharofed from the purification plant still has someAvhere 

 in the vicinity of 10 parts per million. 



Have your people done any studies as to whether this is a permis- 

 sible level of pollution ? 



Dr. HiRSCH. Well, I believe the question of whether or not it is a 

 permissible level would depend to some extent on the characteristics 

 of the receiving water that the pollution is going into, the degree of 

 the pollution and the nature of the organisms located there, and so on. 



Wliat we have 



Senator Stea-exs. "\"\niat are you doing in San Francisco, for in- 

 stance ? There are a tremendous number of tankers in San Francisco 

 and San Pedro, and up in Portland, Me. I am told there are 890 

 foreign tankers a year that pull into Portland, Me., to discharge oil 

 to go through the Canadian pipeline that goes through Maine up to 

 the Canadian east coast. 



All of those tankers that are complying with our law are going 

 through some procedure like this and Portland, Me., is receiving a 

 substantial amount of discharge from those who are complying with 

 the law. We know there are some that don't comply with the law, and 

 go out and clean them out on the high seas on the way back. 



Now, have we any studies to see what the effect of that discharge is 

 on Portland, Me., or San Pedro, or San Francisco ? 



Dr. HiRSCii. We have studies that I think Dr. Royce might be able 

 to describe in some detail as to what the effect of oil on various types 

 of marine organisms is. When you come to an individual area such as 

 the ones that you are describing, we have, insofar as I know, no signifi- 

 cant studies underway with the exception of some monitoring type of 

 work in Prince William Sound that I mentioned yesterday. 



Senator Ste\t,xs. That is my interest. We are studying the probable 

 effects of our pipeline and we are not studying the actual effects of 

 what is going on in the transportation of oil that far exceeds the total 

 of the pipeline. That is why I am here this morning. 



I would sort of like to know what we are doing elsewhere. We are 

 fearing what might happen in Prince William Sound, but what has 

 happened in Portland, Maine ? 



Dr. HiRSCiT. I would add one further point, and I can't speak for 

 the other agencies concerned, but under the Federal Water Pollution 

 Control Act, if there are regulations established both on nonoil that 

 can be discharged, and there are water quality standards which govern 

 the protection of the receiving water, and that is a program jointly 

 administered by EPA and the States, so that in a place like Maine, 

 let's say, I can only assume, and it is an assumption on my part, that 

 under the pollution control efforts of the State of IVIaine and the 

 Environmental Protection Agency, that if the cumulative amount of 

 oil that was going in were to exceed those standards, that action would 

 be taken. 



As I say. that is an assimiption on my part. 



Senator Stevens. I am very interested in this, because we are going 

 to face the question before the whole Senate in another week or 10 

 days, and I constantly hear the charge that the 10 parts per million 

 maximum for oil in the facility coming out of the water purification 

 facilities exceeds the level that that ecosystem can support. 



