Ocean and Dredged Material Disposal
Ocean Disposal
Between
1940 and 1970, several locations throughout Massachusetts Bay were used
for the disposal of various industrial waste products, these activities
being large unrecorded and unregulated. The disposal of low-level radioactive
wastes during the 1940s and 1950s was permitted at four sites within
Massachusetts Bay, the most frequently used being the Industrial Waste
Site (IWS) at 42 26.8'N X 70 35.0'W. These wastes were generated by
academic, commercial and medical institution sources, and there are
no real disposal records extant for the period prior to 1952. In 1963,
the United States Coast Guard deployed a buoy marking the IWS, and between
1963 and 1975 this area was authorized for toxic and hazardous wastes.
In 1975 the IWS buoy was moved one nautical mile east at the request
of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
(COE), to the site of the old Massachusetts Bay Disposal site (MBDS)
(42 25.7'N X 70 35.0'W).
Dredged Material
Disposal
Most harbors
and navigation channels of New England require periodic maintenance
dredging to remove sediments that accumulate over time. Fine grained
sediments, transported by river bedload, stormwater runoff, and tidally
driven currents settle in areas of low current velocities creating shoals
that must be removed to ensure the safety of vessels. Because these
fine grained sediments are not suitable for use as fill or for beach
nourishment, the material was often disposed of at numerous locations
throughout Massachusetts and Cape Cod bays.
The general
vicinity around the site known today as the Massachusetts Bay Disposal
Site has been used, since the 1940s, as a dumping area for industrial
wastes, construction debris, deliberately sunken derelict vessels, and
for some dredged material considered to be "contaminated."
The area became known as the "Foul Area" because the dumped
material "fouls" or tears fishermen's nets (US EPA,1989).
The Marine
Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act of 1972 (33 U.S.C.A., 1401
et seq.) gave the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) the authority to designate sites where ocean dumping may be permitted.
In 1977, the EPA issued ocean dumping regulations for disposal sites,
along with a list of sites given interim site designation status. This
status was granted to sites that had historically been used as ocean
disposal sites. It included the Massachusetts Bay Disposal Site (MBDS)
and extended its period of use until 1988. In 1986, the authority to
designate ocean disposal sites was delegated by the EPA Administrator
to the Regional Administrators. The final designation of the MBDS as
an ocean dredged material disposal site was issued in 1993 by the Region
I (Boston, MA) Environmental Protection Agency, pursuant to this authority.
This designation was made shortly after the final ruling designating
as such the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary in 1992. There
was a great deal of controversy over the designation of the MBDS during
this period, due to its proximity to the boundaries of the Stellwagen
Bank National Marine Sanctuary.
The site
of the MBDS was moved by the final ruling one nautical mile westward
and one-half nautical mile southward of the "old" (interim)
MBDS; the area encompasses a circle two nautical miles in diameter,
centered at 42 25.1'N X 70 35.0'W. This revision of the MBDS boundaries,
EPA stated, was done for several reasons, the first of which was to
avoid overlap with the northern area of the historic Industrial Waste
Site, where the majority of waste barrels and debris are located. No
dredged materials would, therefore, be deposited on top of previously
disposed wastes and efforts to devise proper management and/or remediation
for these previous dumping sites could continue unhindered. Second,
the new boundary encompasses an area outside the "old" MBDS
boundaries where sediments have been contaminated by short-dumping.
These sediments could, therefore, be covered with cleaner materials
as part of the new dredged materials disposal site. Finally, the new
location avoids overlap with the "pristine" area at the eastern
side of the "old" MBDS, which overlaps with the Stellwagen
Bank National Marine Sanctuary. The EPA and the National and Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) concluded that designation of
the MBDS would not interfere with the Sanctuary.
The MBDS
is approved for ocean disposal of dredged material, which must conform
to the EPA criteria in the Ocean Dumping Criteria regulations. The site
can only be used for disposal following an individual disposal determination
which concludes that ocean disposal is an "environmentally appropriate
alternative" as compared with other disposal alternatives. Disposal
of contaminated materials, as defined by state regulations, is not permitted
at the MBDS. An important stipulation made by the EPA is that "capping"
of materials which violate the ocean dumping criteria will not be permitted.
Therefore, the prohibition on the disposal of contaminated dredged materials
at the MBDS may not be overcome by a proposal to "cap" these
materials. The EPA states that the efficacy of the capping method is
suspect; however, it also notes that this issue could be revisited in
the future if new technical data regarding capping methods became available.
It has also been noted that a waiver from mandatory compliance with
the ocean dumping criteria could be obtained under certain circumstances.
If there are no economically feasible alternatives to a particular dumping
proposal, EPA is directed to grant a project-specific waiver unless
"certain unacceptable environmental harms would result".
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