The Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency has upheld on appeal¹ a subordinate's commitment to more vigorous protection of the marine environment from the adverse effects of ocean dumping. In a test case² involving the city of Philadelphia's dumping of sewage sludge, Mr. Train, adopting the recommendations of a Hearing Panel, affirmed imposition by the Regional Administrator for Region III, of a significant condition on the city's latest one-year interim dumping permit. The condition requires the city to phase out its ocean disposal of sewage sludge over the next six years, halving the level of discharges by 1979 and shifting completely to on-land disposal by 1981.

The Administrator's decision, which incorporated by reference the Hearing Panel's more extensive conclusions,³ rested on a strict interpretation of the pertinent federal law and a sophisticated approach to latent environmental risks. In Mr. Train's view, Congress, by enacting the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act of 1972,⁴ affirmatively prohibited the transport of materials for the purpose of ocean dumping, and allowed the EPA Administrator to modify that prohibition only in situations where he determines either that the dumping will not cause adverse effects to the marine environment, or that alternative disposal methods present a greater threat of harm to public health or the environment. Further, such a determination must include consideration of whether the dumping will unreasonably endanger the marine environment in terms of the persistence and permanence of its effects. And the proponent of dumping bears the burden of proving that no such adverse effects will occur.