AUTHORIZATION FOR THE MARINE PROTECTION, RESEARCH, AND SANCTUARIES ACT OF 1972

MONDAY, MARCH 20, 1978

U.S. SENATE,

COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION,

Washington, D.C.

The committee met at 10:30 a.m., in room 318, Russell Senate Office Building, Hon. Ernest F. Hollings, presiding.

OPENING STATEMENT BY SENATOR HOLLINGS

Senator HOLLINGS. This morning's hearings are on S. 2767 and S. 2769 the reauthorization of two parts of the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act of 1972: Title II, which directs the Secretary of Commerce to conduct research on the effects of ocean dumping and other man-induced changes in the oceans, and title III, which provides for marine sanctuaries.

Increasingly, we have seen just how important these two functions are. The oil tanker accidents of both last winter and today, and incidents as diverse as sewage washing up on Long Island beaches and kepone contaminating Chesapeake Bay, show how vulnerable our coastal waters are, and how much more we need to learn about the effect of marine pollution.

Much more research and information are needed, which is why I am encouraged that NOAA plans to expand its title II research, as well as related research under other NOAA authority.

This morning I look forward to hearing how NOAA plans to use the additional money it is requesting for fiscal year 1979.

I am also pleased to note that the President's May 1977 environmental message called for more marine sanctuaries, and that the designation of additional sanctuaries is a top priority of NOAA's new Office of Ocean Management, which now administers the program. I hope the details of these plans will be discussed at this hearing. [The bills follow:]

[S. 2767, 95th Cong., 2d sess.]

A BILL To amend section 204 of the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act of 1972 to extend the authorization for appropriations for fiscal years 1979 and 1980 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 204 of the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act of 1972 as amended (33 U.S.C. 1444), is further amended by (1) deleting the word "and" after the date "1977" and inserting in lieu thereof a comma; (2) deleting the period after the date "1978"; and (3) adding", not to exceed $5,905,000 for fiscal year 1979, and such sums as may be necessary for fiscal year 1980.". (1)

[S. 2769, 95th Cong., 2d sess.]

A BILL To amend section 304 of the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act of 1972, as amended, to extend the authorization for appropriations for fiscal years 1979 and 1980

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 304 of the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act of 1972, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1434), is further amended by deleting the word "and" after the date "1977" and adding immediately after the date "1978" the following: ", and not to exceed $500,000 for fiscal year 1979, and such sums as may be necessary for fiscal year 1980".

Senator HOLLINGS. Our first two witnesses this morning are both from NOAA.

After that, we will hear from Mr. Kamlet, a representative of the environmental community.

Because our time this morning is short, I ask the witnesses to highlight their statements, to leave more time for questions.

Our first witness is Dr. Wilmot Hess, Acting Associate Administrator of NOAA, who will discuss NOAA's fiscal year 1979 plans for title II.

Dr. Hess, we welcome you here, and we are sorry for the pressure of time. We on the Budget Committee though that we would consider the Talmadge farm bill on last Friday, but the leadership is setting aside the Panama Canal in order to consider the farm bill today. think that signoff is necessary, and we could not get a quorum, so they set it over until Monday at 11 o'clock.

So with that time restriction, let's see what we can accomplish and get into the record.

STATEMENT OF DR. WILMOT N. HESS, ACTING ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Dr. Hess. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In the interest of saving time, I will submit my statement for the record and summarize a few highlights of it, if that is the committee's pleasure.

Senator HOLLINGS. Very good, sir.

Dr. HESS. I appreciate this opportunity to appear before this committee to discuss extension of appropriation authority for NOAA's programs under title II of the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act of 1972. Also, as requested by the committee, I shall review some of the more significant findings from cur studies to date.

I think the chairman is well aware of the responsibilities that title II place on NOAA. I will not spend any appreciable time on those. I would say that funding will be required in fiscal 1979 and 1980 to support NOAA's ongoing program in support of section 201 and the Agency's planned programs under section 202. No funds are being requested for section 203 research on ocean dumping alternatives, because it is more appropriately an EPA function. The administration. supports the reassignment of those responsibilities to EPA.

In fiscal 1979, the total appropriation for title II research will increase substantially, provided the Congress acts favorably on the President's budget request.

For that fiscal year, the administration is asking for an increase of $4,035,000 which, if approved, would make the total fiscal year 1979 appropriation $5,905,000.

This is indeed a significant change in the funding picture for ocean pollution research. We consider it as further evidence of the administration's commitment to improved management of the oceans, and their valuable resources.

I can assure you, Mr. Chairman, that NOAA management will be watching this program closely and will work hard to see that NOAA meets these additional responsibilities.

Now let me review some of the results of our work to date, and our plans regarding title II research.

NOAA's ocean dumping research efforts started not under section 201, but as a part of the marine ecosystems analysis (MESA) program's New York Bight project. The MESA project was planned in 1972 and was funded in fiscal year 1973 under a separate line item in the NOAA budget.

The Agency has taken the position that the MESA work on ocean dumping, although never funded under title II, was fully responsive to the concerns of the Congress as expressed in that legislation. It was largely for this reason that the Administration deferred seeking funds to establish another ocean dumping research program under section 201 until fiscal year 1977.

The project development plan calls for completion of the regional study of the New York Bight in fiscal 1981. This planning decision was made several years ago and is not related to the fact that the Congress recently passed legislation requiring the cessation of sewage sludge dumping by the end of calendar 1981.

I would point out that investigation of the effects of ocean dumping were only one facet of the comprehensive environmental investigations of the New York Bight. These studies have provided the necessary background information to initiate a program of monitoring the environmental conditions of the bight and were used in the development of other similar NOAA ecosystem investigations of presently or potentially stressed marine areas of the United States.

Critical studies related to the regional problems of the New York Bight that remain to be addressed following the termination of the New York Bight project, along with other recommendations for sound environmental management of the New York Bight, will be developed during the next 12 months.

In fiscal 1977, the first appropriation under title II was approved to establish the NOAA ocean dumping program. Management of the program was assigned to NOAA's national ocean study. Its mission is to carry out the purposes of section 201, including support of EPA and the Corps of Engineers in the discharge of their respective functions under title I of the act.

In fiscal year 1978 the appropriation is $1,870,000 which is being used to continue a comprehensive study of Deepwater Dumpsite 106, to initiate the study of the Puerto Rico industrial waste dumpsite, and to complete work done a year earlier at the Gulf of Mexico industrial waste site.

At Deepwater Dumpsite 106, the program has developed knowledge of how waste material moves in the deeper ocean, its rate of vertical and horizontal mixing and dilution, its chemical interactions and alterations, and its effect on marine life.

Our findings show the southwest migrating Gulf Stream eddies frequently traverse Deepwater Dumpsite 106. These large eddies, gen

erally about 100 kilometers in diameter, envelop the dumpsite within their boundaries as they move, entraining any waste materials present for about 30 days. Regardless of the presence or absence of Gulf Stream eddies, the expected course of waters containing waste materials is toward the southwest, along the depth contours of the Continental Slope. Ultimately, the waters and associated waste materials probably become entrained within the Gulf Stream off the coast of North Carolina, near Cape Hatteras. We have no evidence as yet that waste materials dumped at Deepwater Dumpsite 106 return to shore. We have also concluded that because of the great depths, 1800 to 2500 meters, and the characteristics of the wastes involved, little material, if any, reaches the bottom at the dumpsite.

Studies of the Puerto Rico dumpsite began early in February 1978, in accordance with EPA's listing of priorities for dumpsite investigations. Wastes from eight major pharmaceutical companies, including by-products of antibiotic and various other drug production operations, are being dumped at this site. This poses a particularly complex environmental problem, which will require continued monitoring. We are conducting field and laboratory studies to obtain information on biological responses to pharmaceutical wastes.

The Administration is requesting an additional $1,475,000 to strengthen the program in fiscal year 1979. Of that amount, $800,000 will be allocated to the study of two additional dredge material dumpsites in the Gulf of Mexico. Another $250,000 would provide additional ship support to the ocean dumping research program.

The remaining $425,000 will enable us to begin a complementary research program, one not necessarily related to specific dumpsites, but designated to consider basic questions such as the mechanisms of contaminate assimilation by marine organisms.

In the first year we plan to initiate laboratory studies on the chemistry of cantaminant-seawater mixtures, and effects of such mixtures on planktonic organisms and fish. We plan to make special efforts to insure that this research on dumped materials will be complementary to and not overlap with any similar work being done by the regulatory agencies.

Section 202 of the Act requires the Secretary of Commerce to initiate a comprehensive and continuing program of research on the possible long-range effects of marine pollution on ocean ecosystems. Our Agency's research efforts in this area total approximately $5 million now. However, these studies are carried out in response to legislation predating the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act, and do not constitute a comprehensive program as required by that Act.

In 1979, the President's request of $2,560,000 for this Section would enable us to establish such a comprehensive program. This would be achieved by undertaking new research efforts which will either strengthen or complement current Federal programs in this area, and by establishing a mechanism through which the total Federal longrange effects research effort can be effectively coordinated.

The President's budget request for this part of the proposed Section 202 program is $1,900,000. Of this sum, $400,000 would be used to establish a group within NOAA responsible for carrying out the coordination function. Another $1.5 million would be allocated to fund additional long-term effects research.

We are mindful of the legislative history of section 202, and that its scope includes all Federally sponsored research and the sums appropriated for section 202 would be available to any Federal agency or private research institution if such support would strengthen the overall national effort.

As our planning for the first year program here moves along, we will keep the Committee staff informed regarding specific research tasks to be carried out in the Agency or by private research organizations to be supported.

Another section 202 initiative contained in the President's budget is for $660,000 for long-term effects studies in the Gulf of Mexico.

This new project is directed to understanding and predicting environmental threats, such as industrial pollution and oxygen depletion in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

Let me interpolate a comment, Mr. Chairman. This morning we are undergoing in France what may be the worst ecological problem that we in NOAA have experienced in the last several years.

We have a team of scientists working with the French National Oceanographic Institute in Brest at the scene of the wreck of the Amoco Cadiz, trying to help them as much as we can in studies of where the oil is going, how it is altering as it goes, how it is coming onto the beaches and how it moves on the beaches, trying to continue the kind of work that we did a year and a half ago at the Argo Merchant wreck.

Senator HOLLINGS. Did you have any previous studies of the Brest area, the waters in the Brest area, to show the ultimate effect on the marine biology?

Dr. HESS. No, sir, we have not. We are collaborating with the marine biologists from the French national organization (CNEXO) at that site, and also we are collecting samples along the beach ahead of the oil. There is oil continuously moving onto the beaches. The beach now has about 60 miles of oil, and it is expected that will increase as bad weather and onshore winds continue for the next several days. Senator HOLLINGS. But you are moving ahead into the waters and onto the beaches that haven't been hit yet?

Dr. HESS. Yes, sir, we are collecting samples out in front of the oil. Senator HOLLINGS. I understand. That is good. That is what we lacked in the Argo Merchant, as you well know.

Dr. HESS. That is correct.

Senator HOLLINGS. Since you stopped there a minute, I have another question. You say: "We also plan to set up a computer-based management information system, which would list all relevant federally conducted or sponsored research in this area, so that we might identify gaps and duplication and determine priorities."

You know, to the average legislator, it seems like we are bogged down in research. I mean there is all kinds of planning here, a program of study there, more research, another study.

How do you compile it all and get it into something that is usable to the lay mind in understanding and planning when, for example, you have these wrecks off the coast of Brest or any of these other things that occur? And have current information that is continually updated so it can be used.

I like the idea that you are going to try to get it computerized, so it can be used. We have got more information. more hearings, these davs.

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