Our Oceans: To Dump or Not To Dump, That Is the Question

Our Oceans: To Dump or Not To Dump, That Is the Question

Five oceans cover 71% of the Earth. Most people look at the oceans as clean, refreshing, pristine, and similar to the beaches that are captured on postcards. Unfortunately, looks can be deceiving; our oceans are no longer pristine. The pollution of our oceans has been an issue and the subject of an on-going debate for many years. The purpose of this paper is to answer the question, to dump or not to dump, and examine the reasons for the implementation, changes, or termination of various policies about protecting our oceans throughout the years.

The case study presented by Stewart, Hedge, & Lester, (2008) reviews the ocean dumping policy changes from 1971 through 1985. People have been dumping waste into the oceans for centuries; prior to 1971 dumping waste into the oceans was legal. However, as humankind became more advanced and moved into the industrial and nuclear eras, the amounts of waste grew, and the types of waste dumped became increasingly toxic.

The debate is whether the ocean has the capacity to absorb and purge itself of the waste that has accumulated from dumping. Congress passed the Ocean Dumping Act in 1972, which granted the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the authority and power to regulate ocean dumping. In 1981, President Reagan implemented two actions that negatively affected the Ocean Dumping Act. He gave the Office of Management and Budget authority to preview and regulate environmental propositions prior to announcing them, cut the EPA budget and staff, and then cut the EPA budget again. This greatly reduced the ability of the EPA to enforce the Ocean Dumping Act. Apparently, Reagan was concerned with the economic costs of environmental regulation (Stewart, et al., 2008). There is not much literature in support of ocean dumping. However, a few reasons to allow ocean dumping might be, 1) land is saved from toxic waste, 2) city streets are clean, 3) coral reefs can be started using sunken ships. The lack of literature supporting ocean dumping, leads one to believe that proponents of ocean dumping do so for purely political and financial reasons.

Many believe that the “…oceans have an almost infinite capacity to receive societal wastes” (Stewart, et al., 2008). It is argued that the ocean has the ability “…to rebound within reason from most of the abuses we might impose on it” (Spiller, & Rieser, 1986). Spiller and Rieser (1986) also claim that the controversy surrounding ocean dumping centers around science and values