Environmental Regulatory Process: Does It Work?: Dredging U.S. Ports

This paper outlines the experience of The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey as a result of its application for a federal dredging and ocean disposal of dredged materials permit between 1990 and 1993. This case clearly illustrates that the federal environmental regulatory process--as it relates to dredging permit reviews--is characterized by a lack of policy direction which can lead to delays, confusion, contradictory pronouncements from two or more federal agencies, and ultimately a loss of business for ports. The Port Authority's case also raises several important issues about the nature of dredged materials disposal and environmental regulation, including the need to assess the risk of disposing material with low-level contaminants in the ocean vs. the loss of harbor infrastructure which is critical to both deep-sea maritime commerce and military ocean traffic. Above all, the case testifies to the need for a national policy on dredging and dredged materials disposal.