ORGANIZATIONAL-CHANGE AND MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL-PROTECTION - THE DREDGE SPOIL SITING RECORD

Dredge spoil siting activities are reviewed over a decade to determine whether organizational changes within the Corps of Engineers produced changes in the environmental performance of the agency. Over the period neither the total amount of marine and estuarine dredging nor the incidence of siting spoil inside the baseline declined. Therefore, internal organizational changes do not appear to have affected the above measures of agency performance concerning protection of the marine environment. Furthermore, at least 3% of the spoil is estimated to be highly contaminated. In recent years this magnitude of contaminated spoils has been equivalent to ocean-dumped sewage sludge.