[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 40, Volume 22]
[Revised as of July 1, 2003]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 40CFR228.10]

[Page 221-222]
 
                   TITLE 40--PROTECTION OF ENVIRONMENT
 
         CHAPTER I--ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED)
 
PART 228--CRITERIA FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF DISPOSAL SITES FOR OCEAN DUMPING--
Table of Contents
 
Sec. 228.10  Evaluating disposal impact.

    (a) Impact of the disposal at each site designated under section 102 
of the Act will be evaluated periodically and a report will be submitted 
as appropriate as part of the Annual Report to Congress. Such reports 
will be prepared by or under the direction of the EPA management 
authority for a specific site and will be based on an evaluation of all 
data available from baseline and trend assessment surveys, monitoring 
surveys, and other data pertinent to conditions at and near a site.
    (b) The following types of effects, in addition to other necessary 
or appropriate considerations, will be considered in determining to what 
extent the marine environment has been impacted by materials disposed of 
at an ocean disposal site:
    (1) Movement of materials into estuaries or marine sanctuaries, or 
onto oceanfront beaches, or shorelines;
    (2) Movement of materials toward productive fishery or shellfishery 
areas;
    (3) Absence from the disposal site of pollution-sensitive biota 
characteristic of the general area;
    (4) Progressive, non-seasonal, changes in water quality or sediment 
composition at the disposal site, when these changes are attributable to 
materials disposed of at the site;
    (5) Progressive, non-seasonal, changes in composition or numbers of 
pelagic, demersal, or benthic biota at or near the disposal site, when 
these changes can be attributed to the effects of materials disposed of 
at the site;
    (6) Accumulation of material constituents (including without 
limitation, human pathogens) in marine biota at or near the site.
    (c) The determination of the overall severity of disposal at the 
site on the marine environment, including without limitation, the 
disposal site and adjacent areas, will be based on the evaluation of the 
entire body of pertinent data using appropriate methods of data analysis 
for the quantity and type of data available. Impacts will be categorized 
according to the overall condition of the environment of the disposal 
site and adjacent areas based on the determination by the EPA management 
authority assessing the nature and extent of the effects identified in 
paragraph (b) of this section in addition to other necessary or 
appropriate considerations. The following categories shall be used:
    (1) Impact Category I: The effects of activities at the disposal 
site shall be categorized in Impact Category I when one or more of the 
following conditions is present and can reasonably be attributed to 
ocean dumping activities;
    (i) There is identifiable progressive movement or accumulation, in 
detectable concentrations above normal ambient values, of any waste or 
waste constituent from the disposal site within 12 nautical miles of any 
shoreline, marine sanctuary designated under title III of the Act, or 
critical area designated under section 102(c) of the Act; or
    (ii) The biota, sediments, or water column of the disposal site, or 
of any area outside the disposal site where any waste or waste 
constituent from the disposal site is present in detectable 
concentrations above normal ambient values, are adversely affected by 
the toxicity of such waste or waste constituent to the extent that there 
are statistically significant decreases in the populations of valuable 
commercial or recreational species, or of specific species of biota 
essential to the propagation of such species, within the disposal site 
and such other area as compared to populations of the same organisms in 
comparable locations outside such site and area; or

[[Page 222]]

    (iii) Solid waste material disposed of at the site has accumulated 
at the site or in areas adjacent to it, to such an extent that major 
uses of the site or of adjacent areas are significantly impaired and the 
Federal or State agency responsible for regulating such uses certifies 
that such significant impairment has occurred and states in its 
certificate the basis for its determination of such impairment; or
    (iv) There are adverse effects on the taste or odor of valuable 
commercial or recreational species as a result of disposal activities; 
or
    (v) When any toxic waste, toxic waste constituent, or toxic 
byproduct of waste interaction, is consistently identified in toxic 
concentrations above normal ambient values outside the disposal site 
more than 4 hours after disposal.
    (2) Impact Category II: The effects of activities at the disposal 
site which are not categorized in Impact Category I shall be categorized 
in Impact Category II.