232 • Marine Minerals: Exploring Our New Ocean Frontier 



Box 6-E.— EPA/COE Criteria for Dredged and Fill Material 



Section 103 of the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act of 1972, Public Law 92-532, speci- 

 fies that any proposed operation involving the transportation and dumping of dredged material into ocean 

 waters must be evaluated for potential environmental impact. The responsibility rests with the Secretary of 

 the Army and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) acting cooperatively with 

 the District Engineer and Regional Administrator. Environmental evaluations must follow criteria published 

 by EPA in the Federal Register, vol. 42, No. 7, January 11, 1977. Techniques such as bioassays and bioas- 

 sessments are emphasized as tools for estimating the potentijil for environmental impact. 



It is possible that offshore sand and gravel extraction, placer mining, and phosphorite extraction will 

 be excluded from detailed biological assessment under the exclusion of paragraph 227. 13b.' Dredged material 

 that does not meet these conditions must receive "a full technical evaluation for potential environmental im- 

 pact." The procedures emphasize biological effects of possible contaminants. Dredged matericJ is separated 

 into three components for evaluation: a (1) liquid phase and a (2) suspended particulate phase are deemed 

 to have the greatest potential for impact on the water column and are evaluated with this in mind. The (3) 

 solid phase has the greatest potential for impact on benthic organisms, and evaluative emphasis is placed there. 

 For each phase, three species must be used in assessing toxicity of the material.^ 



The Register required that a technical implementation manual for the criteria applicable to dredged ma- 

 terial be developed jointly by EPA and the Corps of Engineers (COE). This manual contains summaries and 

 discussions of the procedures for ecological evaluation of dredged material, tests to implement them, defmi- 

 tions, sample collection and preservation procedures, evaluative procedures, calculations, interpretative guid- 

 ance, £ind supporting references required for the eveJuation of permit applications. 



'Dredged material that meets the criteria set forth below is approved for depositing without further testing: a. It is composed predorainandy of sand, 

 gravel, rock, or other naturally occurring bottom material with particle sizes larger than silt, and the material is found in areas of high current or wave 

 energy, or b. The material proposed for dumping is substantially the same as the substrate at the proposed disposal sites. 



^These include: one species of phytoplankton or zooplankton, one crustacean or mollusc, and one fish for the liquid bioassay; one species of zoopiank- 

 ton, one crustacean or mollusc, and a fish for the suspended particulate phase; and all benthic organisms — one filter-feeder, one deposit-feeder, and one 

 burrowing species for the solid phase assays. 



^EPA/COE Technical Committee on Criteria for Dredged and Fill Material, "Ecological Evaluation of Proposed Discharge of Dredged Materia] into 

 Ocean Waters," Implementation Manual for Section 103 of Public Law 92-532, July 1977, Second Printing, April 1978. [U.S. Army Engineer Waterways 

 Experiment Station, Vicksburg, MS]. 



spav^^ning areas or on sandbanks where sand eels 

 hide at night adversely affects these fisheries**. 

 While direct negative effects of dredging on adult 

 fish stocks has not been clearly demonstrated, these 

 concerns remain. To protect fishing interests, ICES 

 proposed a "Code of Practice."*^ Elements of this 

 code have been adopted by France and the United 

 Kingdom. The code requires that the exact bound- 

 aries of the mining area and the amount and thick- 

 ness of the sediment layer to be removed be speci- 

 fied. In addition, the expected condition of the 

 seabed after completion of dredging operations 

 must be described, including the amount of gravel 

 remaining to enable herring to spawn. 



"It is still not known why herring select a specific spawning ground 

 or what the selection criteria are for sand eel (Ammodytes) in their 

 choice of a specific bank in which to dig. 



"International Council for the Exploration of the Sea. 



From the U.S. and Europeain work discussed 

 above, it appears that there are three ways to min- 

 imize the environmental effect of mining operations 

 in near- shore areas, namely: 



1 . identify and avoid environmentally sensitive 

 areas with regard to biota, spawning areas, 

 migration, currents, coastiine erosion, etc.; 



2 . where mining does occur, use dredging equip- 

 ment that minimizes destruction of the bot- 

 tom as well as production of both surface and 

 bottom particulate benthic plumes; and 



3. effectively restore the site to its original pre- 

 mining condition — mine and "reclaim" the 

 area by smoothing seafloor gouges and replac- 

 ing removed sediment with a similar type and 

 grain-size. (Note: While this option may be 

 feasible in certain cases, it is expensive and 

 energy-intensive. Because little information 



