Centuries ago—before its health threat was appreciated—garbage was thrown out of house windows onto streets, which seemed convenient commons for disposal of private wastes. Public health measures long ago banned garbage in the streets, and now the last remaining convenient commons are the oceans, which have begun receiving increasingly voluminous and toxic human garbage. Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) figures show that the nation's ocean dumping activities have expanded from almost 10 million tons in 1968 to over 14 million tons in 1974.¹ Most of this increase is attributable to sewage sludge and construction and demolition debris, primarily originating along the East Coast. The CEQ figures, however, represent an almost insignificant portion of the overall dumping problem. In 1974, over 120 million tons of dredged spoil were dumped into the oceans, triple the level reported in 1968.²

Ocean dumping has increased in the face of domestic and international law. Congressional policy, as enunciated in the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act of 1972 (Ocean Dumping Act), is to "prevent or strictly limit the dumping into ocean waters of any material which would adversely affect human health, welfare, or amenities, or the marine environment, ecological systems, or economic potentialities."³ Also, the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matters, which entered into force on August 30, 1975, and to which the United States is a party, imposes upon its signatories the duty to prohibit ocean dumping of all radioactive materials, oil, and highly toxic wastes, and to regulate strictly the dumping of heavy metals, pesticides, and other wastes.⁴ To meet this duty, Congress amended the Ocean Dumping Act in 1974⁵ to require the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to apply the criteria of the Convention and its Annexes where these criteria would be no less stringent than the restrictions established under the Act.