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courses are being sponsored by the Connecticut State Boating Commission and they are also being conducted by Coast Guard auxiliaries, power squadrons, and local recreational officials, and this, I believe, is one step toward indoctrinating and educating the boating public in what the dangers are and what the responsibilities are involved in recreational boating.

The term "master of his fate" also implies or is also a responsible individual, and must be responsible for other users of the water as well.

I believe that we do have an educational program, and this is at least partially the answer to this: The more education we can extend to the boating public, the more they are going to be aware of the dangers and the rules of the road which are involved in operating their boat.

These educational courses are being conducted nationwide by Coast Guard, Coast Guard auxiliary, power squadrons; even some local high schools are starting boating programs much like safe driving pro

grams.

Senator RIBICOFF. From your testimony, it is obivous that you have great responsibilities on the sound.

What would you need by way of men and equipment to carry out your duties to the maximum extent possible?

Commander CROSBY. Speaking primarily of oil pollution, Mr. Chair

man?

Senator RIBICOFF. No; generally, all your responsibilities that you feel you have to do properly. What would you need by way of additional personnel and equipment?

SOME PERSONNEL NEEDED

Commander CROSBY. I believe that generally we are in fairly good shape as far as the equipment is concerned. Perhaps a small increase in personnel would be beneficial.

Right now, for instance, our search-and-rescue boat crews-and this is prevalent throughout the Coast Guard on the rescue stations—are generally standing 1-day duty and then 1 day off, then 1-day duty again; in other words, their work schedule during the summer is around 96 to 100 hours a week. This is unfortunate, but the summer is our big season. In the wintertime, of course, we go back into our regular program.

But this is a problem which is extensive throughout the Coast Guard, not merely with Long Island Sound. We have been living with this, and we provide the service.

Senator RIBICOFF. Senator Mathias?

Senator MATHIAS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

OIL-SPILL OFFENDERS

Commander, what technique do you use to identify an offender who has made an oil spill? Of course, there are obvious cases. But what about the ship that pumps bilge and then steams off into the night?

Commander CROSBY. That is a big problem, Senator. Usually the oil slick shows up, and, as I say, it may be discovered somewhat later by either a Coast Guard unit or by private citizens or by other sources. We try to take samples of this type of oil, and we send them to

laboratories. The Federal Water Quality Administration has a national laboratory in Edison, N.J. Also, the State Water Resources Commission utilizes the facilities of Wesleyan University Laboratory, and we try to get these samples in.

But our procedures for testing these samples are still somewhat inadequate, generally speaking. The only thing they can come up with is the general idea of the type of the oil, whether it is Venezuelan crude or a Louisiana crude or a light oil or gasoline, or anything of that nature; and it is very difficult right now to come upon the scene at a later time and then be able to trace that oil to a particular offender.

Senator MATHIAS. The Institute of Defense Analysis in Washington has been doing a lot of work in this area and has suggested that closer identification is possible. I wonder if that information has been published to the Coast Guard or had otherwise been disseminated.

TAGGING OIL

Commander CROSBY. I don't know about that particular study, but the Federal Water Quality Administration does have a research project into tagging oil, in which case they would use radio chemical tags of some sort that would be injected into various loads of tankers and what have you, and this tag would stay with that shipment from start to finish.

If we came upon a particular sample of oil in the navigable waters, that oil could be sent to a laboratory and it could be analyzed using the tag, and noting who was responsible for that tagged oil. We would then have a pretty good case as to who was responsible for that particular discharge.

Senator MATHIAS. Of course, it would have the effect not only of making your job of detection easier; it would have a substantial deterrent effect on the ship, to be more careful and to avoid a spill? Commander CROSBY. I believe it would.

Of course, the magnitude of a particular program like that is something that they are looking into, and it would be a tremendously large project.

Senator MATHIAS. I think this committee would be particularly interested in knowing about the level of cooperation that you receive from other Government agencies. What sort of cooperation do you receive from the various State agencies on both sides of the sound?

COOPERATION OF THE HIGHEST LEVEL

Commander CROSBY. We work primarily with the Water Resources Commission of the State of Connecticut, and we have a very close relationship. Usually our investigators accompany each other to a particular spill site, and I believe that we work very closely with them. Local officials we work with, of course, as well.

I don't get too much involved with the State of New York, even though my area extends to the shoreline of the North Shore of Long Island, but I deal primarily with the State of Connecticut and the local officials in Connecticut.

I believe, to answer your question, that our cooperation is of the highest caliber.

Senator MATHIAS. Do you have any suggestions for improvement of the State-Federal relationship?

Commander CROSBY. No, I don't have any suggestions along that

line.

As maybe you know, Connecticut does also have an Oil Pollution Act, Public Act 765, which the Water Resources Commission is responsible for enforcing, and this law is actually very similar now to the Federal law, the Water Quality Improvement Act of 1970.

So basically we are looking for the same thing, and they have jurisdiction over internal waters of the State of Connecticut and we have jurisdiction over Federal navigable waters. In certain areas we both have jurisdiction, such as the Thames River, Long Island Sound, and the Connecticut River.

Senator MATHIAS. What about the level of cooperation that you receive from other Federal agencies?

Commander CROSBY. As far as pollution is concerned?

Senator MATHIAS. Yes.

Under the Refuse Act of 1899, for instance, you are the enforcement agency, but legal prosecution is in the hands of Justice Department.

CORPS OF ARMY ENGINEERS

Commander CROSBY. Yes, sir; and the administration of the law is with the Corps of Army Engineers. But we do report every case that we have which we feel falls under the law to the Corps of Army Engineers, and they in turn decide whether we have collected enough evidence and whether there is enough available to form a case for prosecution, and then they in turn forward it to the attorney.

Senator MATHIAS. So it is the Corps of Engineers which makes the determination as to whether or not there is a case?

Commander CROSBY. Yes, sir; with recommendations from the Coast Guard. This is merely for the act of 1899, the Refuse Act.

Senator MATHIAS. Is that a cumbersome procedure? Would you prefer to deal directly with the Justice Department?

Commander CROSBY. It does involve quite a few different agencies, and I believe in the past it may have been somewhat cumbersome, but now, with the national contingency plan in effect and the requirement that these agencies work more closely together on this problem, the lines of administrative work are smoothing out quite a bit.

This act has brought us together, you might say, and has required. us to form these lines of communication.

Senator MATHIAS. I believe this is an act which has for a number of years been more honored in the breach than in the observance. Recently, there has been interest in it and it has been revived.

Have there been any recent prosecutions in the Long Island Sound area?

Commander CROSBY. In the past year and a half I believe there have

been.

Senator MATHIAS. I mean specifically under the act of 1899. Commander CROSBY. There have been, I believe, in the last 18 months, 15 cases which we have forwarded to the Corps of Army Engineers, and I believe that there are five cases pending and the other 10 were dropped.

Senator MATHIAS. Thank you very much, Commander. Your have been very helpful.

Senator RIBICOFF. Thank you very much.

Mr. MARINO (from the audience). Senator, can I ask one question? You said there were 60,000 boats in Connecticut. I would have guessed about 15,000.

On these marinas, the 60,000 boats entering into these marinas at night, would you want to tell the Senators what usually-the thing is what the people do now in these commercial marinas, when people go in there and park.

Commander CROSBY. I am sorry, sir; I didn't quite understand your question.

Mr. MARINO. You said there are 60,000 boats in Connecticut.

Commander CROSBY. Yes.

Mr. MARINO. These boats park in these marinas, they all have a place to park.

Would you tell the Senators what the people usually do at night after they park, or even during the day?

Commander CROSBY. In the first place, the 60,000 boats registered in Connecticut don't all tie up in marinas, because this includes not only a 14-foot punt but it goes all the way up to the largest recreational vessel we have. A lot of the people trailer their boats from inland areas, and they trailer them just for the day.

I really don't have any information available as to how many

Mr. MARINO. Let's take 30,000 that go into-let's take half of them. They live in them boats, they stay there overnight and they live in them, and they use their bathrooms or heads. Shouldn't there be a Federal law soon to stop this pollution of human matter that goes into that water?

Commander CROSBY, Well

Mr. MARINO. That should be a Federal law; right?

Commander CROSBY. This law which I mentioned, the Federal Water Quality Improvement Act of 1970, does have this provision in it. This law was just signed on April 3 of this year, I believe, and it requires that the Coast Guard look into and promulgate standards for these marine sanitation devices, and when these standards are promulgated and published, then all these recreational boats will have to comply with these standards and there will be penalties involved for not complying with these standards.

Mr. MARINO. Is it going to wait until no one can go into a swimming area?

Commander CROSBY. It is going to take some time, sir; because the law states that new vessels will have 2 years in which to comply and existing vessels 5 vears in which to comply.

Mr. MARINO. We might as well forget the swimming area. There's going to be all marinas in Connecticut.

Thank you.

Senator RIBICOFF. The committee will stand in recess until 1:30. The first witness after the recess will be Congressman Thomas Meskill.

Commander CROSBY. I would like to invite the members of the committee and the members of the press to a demonstration aboard a Coast Guard cutter.

(Whereupon, a recess was taken for luncheon until 1:30 in the afternoon.)

AFTERNOON SESSION

Senator RIBICOFF. The committee will be in order.

Our first witness this afternoon will be Congressman Thomas Meskill.

Congressman Meskill, I want to express the appreciation of the committee for your taking time out of a very busy schedule to give us the benefit of your views.

Congressman Meskill.

STATEMENT OF HON. THOMAS MESKILL, A U.S. CONGRESSMAN FROM THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT

Congressman MESKILL. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Chairman, members of the subcommittee, it is a great pleasure to welcome you to Connecticut today to hear testimony on a matter of great concern to the people of Connecticut and New York and the entire metropolitan area. I am most appreciative of the opportunity to testify today on S. 2472, introduced in the Senate by Senator Ribicoff. Those of us from Connecticut, and particularly those of us who have spent a great deal of our lives along the Connecticut shoreline, are particularly aware of the great threat which looms ahead for one of this Nation's greatest natural resources unless a program is developed and implemented to insure its protection and balanced use.

Connecticut is undoubtedly most fortunate to have this great resource, Long Island Sound, span the distance of its southern border. Few States are blessed with such a valuable asset offering vast potential for multiple use.

But in a society becoming even more mechanized, a society in which technology greatly influences values, a society motivated by competitive self-interest, Long Island Sound, as we know it, is in great danger.

CHANGING CONDITION OF THE SOUND

I would like to preface my remarks by saying that I am acutely concerned about what's ahead for the sound and the Connecticut River, not only as a public official with a responsibility to safeguard the public interest, but as one who has spent every summer of his life along the Connecticut shoreline. As I think back to my childhood summersthe beautiful shoreline landscape, the clean waters, the wonderful fishing just off the shore-I am saddened by what I see and what I know of the condition of the sound.

Much has changed. And in most cases it has not been to the benefit or advantage of those who wish to use the sound for recreational purposes.

For many years, those who have enjoyed the pleasant beauties and the recreational opportunities offered by the sound have simply taken it for granted, believing it to be an endless body of water.

Now we know that this was a serious mistake. Our very limited knowledge tells us that man's use of this natural playground has had detrimental effects. But what kind of detrimental effects, to what

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