Marine & Oceans The Keystone Center National Policy Dialogue on Department of the Navy Hazardous Waste Management Final Report March 1991 | Report # 18 | Call 970-513-5835 to order reports

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This report represents nine months of effort and commitment by the Ad Hoc Advisory Committee on Plastics. It is a consensus document by the Committee and is separated into four sections: supply, technology, operations, and education. In developing recommendations, the committee attempted to take the Navy's primary mission into account, as well as the realities of shipboard life, and the challenge of affecting change in a large organization. The Committee also tried to take into account unique opportunities presented by the realities of the Navy, including the Navy's historic pride in leadership as a Service; the level of pride found on each ship; the Services substantial research and development capability; the "can do" attitude found throughout the Navy; unique aspects of the supply and operations systems; and the environmental sensitivity found on shipboard visits.

This report was the product of a policy dialogue sponsored by The Keystone Center, a non-profit organization devoted to facilitating the resolution of national policy conflicts through the use of an innovative consensus dialogue process. The Purpose of the Keystone Ocean Project were (1) to provide a systematic, unbiased basis for societal decisionmaking about the potential for using the oceans as a medium for hazardous waste management, particularly in individual permit cases or in regulatory actions; and (2) to make policy recommendations related to the use of the oceans in hazardous waste management.

For purposes of the project, the primary type of waste under consideration is hazardous waste as defined by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). Specifically, RCRA wastes are those either listed as such by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or designated by virtue of characteristics such as toxicity, reactivity, ignitability, or corrosivity. In addition, wastes popularly considered hazardous, like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), though regulated under other laws, are also addressed in the project. Excluded from the project's scope are radioactive wastes, sewage sludges, dredge spoils, and other wastes which may regulated by other laws.

This report is an outline of the U.S. Coast Guard Marine Environmental Protection Forum, with discussions on the concept of a national marine environmental protection strategy, transportation management and pollution prevention, land-based sources of marine pollution, emergency preparedness and response and, living marine resources.

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