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Monterey Bay and Gulf of the Farallones Marine Sanctuaries Alert! 11/13/93
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Re: The Navy's 400 million cubic yard ocean dumpsite for S.F. Bay dredge 
sediment
To: Concerned organizations, agencies, and individuals

Message:

Since April 1993, contaminated dredge spoils from the Alameda Naval Air 
Station and Oakland Supply Center in S.F. Bay have and continue to be dumped 54 
miles west of the Golden Gate adjacent to the Monterey Bay National Marine 
Sanctuary and The Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary.  Concerns 
about elevated levels of DDD, DDT, PCB 1254, organotins, PAH's, other toxics 
(including radioactive materials and numerous heavy metals) which may injure 
numerous endangered and threatened species including whales, have not been 
adequately addressed.  This "fast track" dumping program is intended to 
establish "historic use" for a much larger, 400 million cubic yard dredge spoil 
dump at the same location. 

The Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the San Francisco Bay Deep 
Water Dredged Material Disposal Site Designation public comment period has 
ended unreasonably quickly despite substantial public controversy and a lack of 
public input due to limited availability of the document.  The EPA Region IX 
has sent mixed messages about further opportunities to receive a copy of the 
EIS and a formal extended public comment period for the EIS.

We are urging all interested parties to ask the EPA Region IX to provide a 
formal extension to the public comment period for the EIS by doing three things:

1. Submit a one page letter to EPA Administrator Carol M. Browner that 
describes:

-your strong objections to the limited availability of the Final EIS and EPA 
Region IX's desire to limit the public's review of the document;

-your request for one or more copies of the FEIS;

-your reiterated demand for a formal extension of time of 45 days to comment 
upon the FEIS;

-your commitment to full public disclosure of information related to EPA's 
proposals for ocean dumping of dredged sediments (if EPA Region IX believes it 
can limit public involvement in an ocean dumping project, your EPA region may 
also feel justified in doing so);

-your concern for 3 adjacent National Marine Sanctuaries;

-your desire for a formal response from the EPA headquarters to these concerns;

*If you have legal counsel, it is useful for them to draft and/or sign the 
letter.  Please copy us on your correspondence if it is not too much trouble.

Address: 
Carol M. Browner, Administrator
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
401 M St. S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20460

2. Alert the Media

-Call your local paper and news channel and ask them to do a a story on the 
closed nature of this environmental review process and the environmental 
concerns associated with ocean dumping of contaminated sediments. (We can 
supply a report upon request.)  Or, simply write a letter to the editor about 
your concerns.

3. Suggest the names of other organizations, agencies and individuals who 
should receive action alerts, or might help in some way.

We hope to flood the EPA with (in order of effectiveness): (1)letters and 
(2)faxes,  in order to underscore the controversial nature of the project and 
the EPA's handling of public comment on it. 

For More info, contact us at:

Coastal Advocates
236 N. Santa Cruz Ave., Suite 237A
Los Gatos, CA 95030
408.395.9116
FAX 408.395.0807
e-mail: <mbarton@igc.apc.org>
    



 

 







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