broad and generic, reflecting our 

 general knowledge about processes 

 and impacts. The Green Book 

 guidance is not intended to predict 

 site-specific effects on a national scale; 

 it requires "additional guidance ... 

 necessary to adapt the procedures to 

 Regional situations" (EPA/NED, 1989). 

 The national policy is to provide 

 broadly defined and generic guidance 

 to local EPA and COE districts for 

 regulating disposal within their own 

 regions. This allows each region to 

 review the general guidance in terms 

 of the local environmental settings, 

 dredging needs, disposal options, and 

 economic implications. This 

 document is an attempt to be more 

 specific about the predicted impacts 

 for dredged material disposal in New 

 England waters based on the 

 experience gained over the last 15 

 years of monitoring under the DAMOS 

 program. It is a matter of time until 

 other EPA/COE regional offices 

 develop similar protocols. 



Material to be dredged in New 

 England typically falls into one of 

 three classes: 



• Clean, sand-sized sediment 

 containing negligible 

 concentrations of organic or 

 inorganic contaminants; 



• Fine sands, silts and clays with 

 varying concentrations of 

 contaminants, some of which 

 exceed State or Federal guidelines; 

 or, 



• Fine-grained, generally organic-rich 

 sediments containing some variety 

 of toxic contaminants in 



concentrations that clearly exceed 

 guidelines and pose potential 

 environmental hazard. 



Handling procedures associated 

 with the first and third categories are 

 straightforward. Clean sands can be 

 dredged and disposed at open-water 

 sites or utilized for land-based 

 beneficial uses (e.g., beach 

 nourishment). Removal of 

 contaminated fine-grained material 

 may require special dredging 

 procedures to minimize resuspension, 

 and disposal is carefully engineered 

 and managed. It is the second 

 category of sediments that are more 

 difficult to evaluate; in New England, 

 these constitute the major fraction of 

 material to be dredged. 



The first decision point for an 

 applicant is to see if the material 

 proposed falls into the first category; 

 according to the federal criteria (Sec. 

 227.13(b) in the original 1977 law 

 (Federal Register, 1977), Sec. 225.6 in 

 the 1988 draft revision), material may 

 be excluded from further testing if the 

 dredging site is far removed from 

 known existing and historical sources 

 of pollution (to provide reasonable 

 assurance that the material is not 

 contaminated) and one or more of the 

 three following conditions exist: 



• The material is composed 

 predominantly of sand, gravel, or 

 rock (anything larger than silt) and 

 is from areas of high currents or 

 wave energy such as streams with 

 large bed loads or coastal areas 

 with shifting bars or channels; 



• The material would be suitable for 



An Integrated, Tiered Approach to Monitoring and Management of Dredged Material Disposal Sites 



