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What Kinds of Wastes are Being Legally Dumped into Coastal Waters and Where is This Being Done?
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Lake Erie, Pennsylvania |
The Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act of 1972 (summary
or full text
)
prohibits the dumping of material into the ocean that would unreasonably
degrade or endanger human health or the marine environment. In 1988, the
Act was amended to also ban the ocean dumping of industrial waste and
sewage sludge. Today, virtually all ocean dumping is dredged material
(sediments removed from the bottom of water bodies in order to maintain
navigation channels and berthing areas) or waste from fish processing
operations. Ocean dumping requires a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, with EPA's 
approval.
EPA's oceans team assesses the impact of the dumping by taking water and
bottom sediment samples.
There are four permitted coastal dumping operations in the U.S. EPA Mid-Atlantic Region. One is in Lake Erie and consists of dredged material. The other three are all off of Virginia:
- Fish
Waste Dump Site, Virginia
-Location - 6 miles east of Hog Island, VA
-Waste description: fish waste mainly from clam processing plants along the Eastern Shore - <Norfolk
Dump Site, Virginia
-Location: 17 miles east of Fisherman's Island, VA
-Waste description: dredged material primarily from US Navy dredging projects in the Lower Chesapeake Bay
- Dam Neck
Dump Site, Virginia
-Location: 3 miles east of Virginia Beach, VA
-Waste description: dredged material from the entrance channels to the ports of Norfolk and Hampton Roads
LINKS
EPA's
Office of Water's ocean
disposal of dredged materials and marine
debris.
EPA's Great Lakes National Program Office's Dredging and Dredged Material Management on the Great Lakes.
An
article on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's web site
looks at "Deep-Sea
Biodiversity and the Impacts of Ocean Dumping."