Sea Changes? Ocean Dumping and International Regulation

By Alan B. Sielen

The focus of this article is the London Dumping Convention and its three tiered approach to regulation: specifically, the possibility of changing that approach. Currently, the Convention uses a Blacklist/Graylist method of regulation. Annex I, the blacklist, is a list of substances that may never, absent some emergency situation, be dumped into the ocean because of their harmful characteristics. Annex II, the greylist, is a list of substances that pose a lesser threat to the ocean environment and can be dumped provided that certain conditions are met. Finally, Annex III allows for the dumping of substances not listed in either Annex I or Annex II. Sielen's focus is on the possibility of abandoning this system of regulation in favor of one that is based on assimilative capacity. This new system would allow ocean dumping based not on fixed lists, but rather on the actual scientific and environmental ability of the ocean to safely accept the pollutant without major impact. Sielen identifies both scientific motivations, efficient use, and political motivations, such as opposition to new disposal sites, for this switch, but cautions that there are several prerequisites that would need to be in place to assure that the use of assimilative capacity would not simply lead to over pollution of the oceans.