Ocean Disposal Sites

The EPA designates and manages ocean sites for certain materials permitted under the MPRSA. Locations for designated MPRSA ocean sites are selected to minimize the risk of potentially adverse impacts of the disposed material on human health and the marine environment. The disposition of dredged material into the ocean requires use of an EPA-designated MPRSA ocean site to the greatest extent feasible.

Isles of Shoals North (IOSN) Ocean Disposal Site

In September 2019, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a proposal to designate a new ocean dredged materials disposal site, the Isles of Shoals North (IOSN) Disposal Site, located approximately 10.8 nautical miles east of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The proposed action was described in a Draft Environmental Assessment and Evaluation Study (Draft EA). The Draft EA included maps showing several datasets provided by the Northeast Ocean Data Portal.

Following the September 2019 announcement was a 30-day public comment period. To inform the public comment process, EPA collaborated with the Northeast Regional Ocean Council (NROC) to post data and information about the proposed site on the Northeast Regional Ocean Data Portal. This included interactive versions of some of the maps included in the Draft EA document. EPA released the Final Rule and Final Environmental Assessment for the IOSN Disposal Site in September 2020. The effective date for the IOSN Disposal Site was October 26, 2020.

The gallery below is an archive of the maps that were provided on the Northeast Ocean Data Portal during the public comment process. Click on an image to open a new tab with the Data Explorer displaying the data.