Amidst growing concern over the ocean dumping of increasing volumes of wastes of all kinds, Congress enacted the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act of 1972,¹ Title I of which is known as the Ocean Dumping Act.² The Act declares a national policy "to prevent or strictly limit the dumping into ocean wasters of any material which would adversely affect human health, welfare, or amenities, or the marine environment, ecological systems, or economic potentialities," and sets up a federal program for regulating these activities.³ Yet despite its laudatory objectives, the Act has failed to bring about a significant change in the volume or toxicity of materials dumped into the sea.⁴

Apparently dissatisfied with the progress which had been made toward protecting the marine environment, Congress amended the Act in 1977 to ban the dumping of sewage sludge after December 31, 1981.⁵ In many quarters, however, there remains substantial dissatisfaction with the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) and the Corps of Engineers' implementation of the Act with respect to dredged wastes. After years of dogging the agencies in federal court, Congress, and elsewhere, the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) recently obtained two somewhat favorable judgments which may, it hopes, lead to renewed regulatory efforts. While the opinions themselves offer little to support such a sanguine view, they do provide a glimpse of the current state of this regulatory program, and they permit an assessment of who deserves responsibility and credit for thefailures and accomplishments that have occurred to date.