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Source: Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget, Budget of the U.S. Government, (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1992).

and Waste Management Five-Year Plan. The objectives are to achieve timely compliance with environmental requirements and to complete cleanup of the 1989 inventory of inactive DOE sites and facilities by the year 2019. DOE is preparing a programmatic environmental impact statement (EIS), also scheduled for completion in 1994, to analyze potential environmental impacts of cleanup and compliance at all of its sites. The DOE budget for environmental restoration and waste management has increased from $2.3 billion in fiscal 1990 to $4.8 billion approved for fiscal 1993.

In 1992 DOE began using environmental restoration management contractors to clean up radioactive and hazardous contamination at its facilities. Remediation contractors manage site investigation, cleanup, decontamination, and decommissioning. DOE awarded an environmental restoration management contract in 1992 for the cleanup of its Fernald, Ohio, site.

Internal Audit Programs. The DOE environmental assessment program identifies strengths, weaknesses, corrective actions, and lessons learned. Environmental audits provide the foun

dation for efficient and cost-effective management planning.

Nuclear Weapons Complex Reconfiguration. To consolidate and modernize existing facilities, DOE issued a Reconfiguration Study in January 1991. The study included plans for constructing and operating a reorganized complex in compliance with federal, state, and local environmental laws. To comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), DOE is preparing an EIS on the reconfiguration plans-to be completed in 1994. The EIS will analyze the environmental consequences of alternative configurations of the nuclear weapons complex.

Permanent Nuclear Waste Repository. As directed by the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (as amended in 1987), DOE is investigating the suitability of Yucca Mountain in southern Nevada for a permanent nuclear waste repository. The site is under consideration for the safe disposal of high-level radioactive waste from commercial nuclear powerplants. Establishment of a permanent repository could help resolve the issue of nuclear waste disposal.

Resolution of a 3-year legal dispute allowed DOE to resume site characterization studies with environmental permits from the State of Nevada. These studies, to be completed before 2001, will determine whether the geology and hydrology of Yucca Mountain will allow for permanent disposal of nuclear wastes. Progress continued on surface testing, development of specialized drilling equipment, and design of an underground exploratory studies facility to ascertain the geological characteristics of the site. In this pioneering effort, DOE, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the congressionally designated Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board worked together to assure that planning accords with scientific review and high standards of nuclear safety.

Monitored Retrievable Storage. To facilitate DOE acceptance of commercial spent nuclear fuel by 1998, the department has planned for a monitored retrievable storage (MRS) facility for temporary above-ground storage of nuclear waste. To date, a designated DOE nuclear waste negotiator has received 20 applications from municipalities and Indian tribes for grants to study the hosting of an MRS site. The department expects to select an MRS site in 1993. In addition, federal and state efforts continue toward the siting of low-level radioactive waste disposal facilities, as mandated by the LowLevel Radioactive Waste Policy Amendments of 1985. Numerous interstate compacts for developing facilities for waste generated within the borders of a state are in effect.

Fisheries and Marine Mammals

Also see Coasts and Oceans, International Issues, Wetlands, and related tables and figures in Part II.

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the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Present numbers of Atlantic bluefin tuna, which can have a value of $94 per pound or $67,000 for a single large fish, are only 10 percent of what they were 20 years ago.

Declines such as these can have a profound effect on local economies and regional ecosystems. For Mas

sachusetts alone, recent all-time low landings of groundfish translate into annual losses of 88 million pounds or $193 million and 8,000 jobs, when compared to the estimated long-term potential of these species. For all of New England, groundfish losses represent 137 million pounds or $350 million and 14,000 jobs.

The major factors contributing to declines in marine species include overharvesting, bycatch waste, habitat degradation, and, in the case of marine mammals, fishery/marine mammal interactions.

Intensive fishing operations affect more than the abundance of targeted stocks. The functioning and balance of the marine ecosystem can be profoundly impacted. Overharvest of New England groundfish has resulted in steady

U.S. fisheries.

Fishery

Alaskan pollock

Menhaden

Salmon

Crabs

Cods

Flounders

Shrimp

Lobsters

Scallops

declines in the abundance of the principal groundfish and flounder species. These declines have been accompanied by steady increases in the numbers of skates and dogfish that inhabit the same ecological niche but have no present commercial value.

Removal of large quantities of historically dominant and commercially valuable groundfish has shifted the relative abundance of different species in the ecosystem. The feasibility of rebuilding groundfish and flounder stocks will depend upon the extent to which these species have been displaced by the now dominant skates and dogfish.

Marine Mammals

Of some 100 species of marine mammals found worldwide, 58 inhabit U.S. waters, and of these, 13 are listed as threatened or endangered under ESA. The status of most marine mammal stocks is uncertain because of a lack of information. The U.S. Marine Mammal Commission, established by the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, administers a research program to fill existing information gaps. The com

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Source: U.S. Department of Commerce, NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service, Fisheries of the United States, (Washington, DC: Department of Commerce, NOAA/NMFS, May 1992).

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mission also reviews federal policies and actions for their impact on marine mammals.

In 1992 the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission reported the following species in most urgent need of protection:

• Northern Right Whale. The most
endangered marine mammal in U.S.
waters, this species is also the
world's most endangered large
whale. The largest known popula-
tion, estimated at 350 animals, occurs
in coastal waters off the east coasts
of Canada and the United States.
After being devastated by commer-
cial whaling in the last century, pop-
ulations now represent 5 percent of
estimated pre-commercial exploita-
tion levels. Today, entanglement in
fishing gear and collisions with ships
may be the principal human-related
causes of mortality and injury. In the
eastern Pacific Ocean, only seven
sightings of right whales have been
made in the last 25 years, indicating
critically low numbers.

• Hawaiian Monk Seal. The most
endangered seal in U.S. waters may

Note: Based on a total of 232 stocks assessed in 1990.

Source: Part II, Table 86.

number as few as 1,500 animals that inhabit the remote northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Interactions with the Hawaiian swordfish industry, which in recent years expanded from 50 to 150 vessels, may be contributing to declines in births and beach

counts.

West Indian Manatee. Occurring in the coastal waters and rivers of Florida and Georgia, the long-term survival of this population of 1,800 animals is in doubt. Known deaths between 1988 and 1991 exceeded 550, of which 150 were caused by water craft. Habitat degradation resulting from coastal development may pose the more serious long-term threat to this species.

• Steller Sea Lion. Declines in the number of Steller sea lions, throughout their range but particularly in Alaska, led to their being listed in 1990 as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Fisheries interactions appear to be a contributing factor. Declines of 90 percent have been recorded for major rookeries over the past 30 years, with the great

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