Abstract

Containment Islands: A Solution for Ports and th e Environment 3 9 Containment Islands: A Solution for Ports and the Environment Carol A. Coch hen we think of "islands," we usually envision bright expanses of sandy beaches on the islands of Hawaii, the Caribbean, and those off the East Coast of the United States; we don' t usually think of islands as receptacles of large volumes of dredged materials. Yet there are such islands, containment islands serving useful economic and environmental purposes, and they are becoming more commonplace. They have been created to serve a range of purposes, such as waterfowl nesting areas, wildlife management areas, port facilities, airports, and parks—including some with those bright expanses of sandy beaches. Containment islands are one response to a worldwide dredging crisis, which, in the United States, has led port authorities to consider exorbitantly expensive short-term solutions. The problem of what to do with contaminated dredged material became more serious in the United States after the 1991 publication of the United States Army Corps of Engineers/United States Environmental Protection Agency Green Book that provided testing guidelines for the classification of contaminated dredged material. The Green Book is one of the sources for