Schwartzy on perchlorate hot seat

[Steve Taylor <steve@miltoxproj.org>]

--

Steve Taylor
National Organizer
Military Toxics Project
207-783-5091 (phone)
www.miltoxproj.org
"Networking for Environmental Justice"


Perchlorate panel puts official on spot 
WATER: The special state Senate committee wants the governor to get
safety standards set soon. 

01:12 AM PST on Thursday, January 29, 2004 


By JIM MILLER / Sacramento Bureau

SACRAMENTO - A top Schwarzenegger official promised Wednesday that the
administration will set goals for safe levels of perchlorate in drinking
water, but it remains unclear when the rules would go into effect. 

Lawmakers heard almost four hours of testimony about state efforts to
regulate levels of perchlorate, a rocket fuel ingredient that has forced
the closure of 20 wells in Rialto and threatens water supplies elsewhere
in the Inland area and around the state. 

The hearing underscored some lawmakers' growing frustration at delays in
setting a perchlorate level for drinking water. Some accused the
Schwarzenegger administration of ignoring a 2002 law that required
perchlorate concentration levels to be in effect Jan. 1. 

"It is time, indeed it is long past time, for ... (the state) to get on
with the job of complying with the law to protect the public health and
the environment," said state Sen. Byron Sher, D-Palo Alto, the law's
author. "Additional delay is not an alternative in my opinion." 

Terry Tamminen, secretary of the state Environmental Protection Agency,
blamed the missed deadline on litigation over the issue. The
administration, he said, is intent on crafting a public health goal for
perchlorate concentration in drinking water. 

"I want to assure you that we will move in an expeditious manner. We
take this matter very seriously," Tamminen told the Senate Select
Committee on Perchlorate Contamination, mentioning perchlorate's risks
to pregnant women and fetuses. 

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