§1402 Definitions

Summary

Defines key words used in the Act. It gives short, plain meanings for terms used later. Administrator is the head of the Environmental Protection Agency. Ocean waters are the open sea waters beyond the baseline used to measure a country’s territorial sea, as set by the relevant international convention. Material means matter of many kinds, like dredged material, garbage, sewage and sludge, munitions, radioactive and chemical agents, industrial and farm wastes, wreckage, sand or rock, and similar items; it does not include sewage from vessels under section 1322, and oil counts only if it is taken aboard a ship or aircraft to be dumped. United States includes the States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Canal Zone, U.S. territories and possessions, and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. Person means any private person or group, or any officer, employee, agent, department, agency, or arm of the U.S. government, a state or local government, or a foreign government. Dumping means disposing of material into ocean waters but does not cover certain regulated discharges under the Clean Water Act, section 407, or the Atomic Energy Act; it also excludes routine engine or equipment discharges from vessels, the building of fixed structures or placing devices for non‑disposal when otherwise regulated or authorized, and the deposit of oyster shells for fisheries when regulated or authorized. District court of the United States includes the federal district courts for Guam, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, the Canal Zone, and, for American Samoa and the Trust Territory, the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii. Secretary means the Secretary of the Army. Dredged material is stuff dug out from U.S. navigable waters. High-level radioactive waste is the aqueous waste from the first-cycle solvent extraction and the concentrated waste from later extraction cycles when reprocessing irradiated reactor fuel. Medical waste includes infectious materials, blood and blood products, body parts, sharps, contaminated bedding, surgical and certain lab and dialysis wastes, and other items the Administrator may add. Transport or transportation means carrying and handling material by ship or any other vehicle, including aircraft. Convention means the international Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter.