Did the federal government ban ocean dumping of sludge because of a threat to marine ecology?
There was little threat to the marine environment from the disposal of biosolids at the 106 Mile Ocean Dumping Site from pollutants in the biosolids. Years after this activity has ceased, monitoring surveys at that site have never demonstrated adverse effects on marine life there. The reason why Congress banned ocean dumping was not that biosolids were toxic to marine life. Congress recognized that the nutrients in biosolids could cause increased algae production, eventually leading to oxygen depletion at the site. Congress properly decided that it made much more sense and better policy to get biosolids out of the ocean and use the nutrients in biosolids more productively to provide crop nutrients and to improve soil quality.
There was little threat to the marine environment from the disposal of biosolids at the 106 Mile Ocean Dumping Site from pollutants in the biosolids. Years after this activity has ceased, monitoring surveys at that site have never demonstrated adverse effects on marine life there. The reason why Congress banned ocean dumping was not because biosolids were toxic to marine life. Congress recognized that the nutrients in biosolids could cause increased algae production, eventually leading to oxygen depletion at the site. Congress properly decided that it made much more sense and was better policy to get biosolids out of the ocean and use the nutrients in biosolids more productively to provide crop nutrients and to improve soil quality.
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