[CPEO-MEF] Perchlorate vs. Development

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

As Perchlorate Contamination Grows, So Do Troubles of Property Developers
Water Containing the Chemical Dumped During Cold War Hinders Growth
Plans in Parched Areas
by Peter Waldman
Wall Street Journal
December 27, 2002

Several of the Nation's fastest-growing areas - including Las Vegas,
Texas and Southern California - could face debilitating water shortages
because of groundwater contamination by perchlorate, the main ingredient
in solid rocket fuel.

The chemical, dumped widely during the Cold War at military bases and
defense-industry sites, has seeped into water supplies in 22 states. The
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Defense are
embroiled in a bitter dispute over perchlorate's health effects, with
the EPA recommending a strict drinking water limit that the Pentagon
opposes as too costly. Yet even without a national standard, state
regulators and water purveyors are taking no chances: Dozens of
perchlorate contaminated wells have been shuttered nationwide, casting a
pall on growth plans in several parched areas.

...

Subscribers may obtain the entire article on-line from http://www.wsj.com.

Lenny
-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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