[CPEO-MEF] PERCHLORATE, VOCs: Senate Committee Approves Bills

[Lenny Siegel <lennysiegel@gmail.com>]

News Release
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee
July 31, 2008


EPW Committee Passes Legislation to Protect Communities from 
Perchlorate, TCE and Mercury

Other Measures Target Environmental Justice, Great Lakes Cleanup, 
Hazardous Waste Tracking


Washington, DC - Today, the Senate Environment and Public Works 
Committee passed legislation that address toxic substances in drinking 
water, including perchlorate, and trichloroethylene (TCE), as well as 
measures to limit the export and release of toxic mercury, advance 
environmental justice issues, address tracking of hazardous waste, clean 
up the Great Lakes and improve sanitation systems for rural and native 
villages in Alaska.

Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Chairman of the Environment and Public 
Works Committee said: "The bills approved by the Environment and Public 
Works Committee today tackle some of the most dangerous pollution 
threatening our families and communities."

Protecting Communities from Perchlorate

The committee passed two bills today that were introduced by Senator 
Boxer on the first day of the 110th Congress to protect the public from 
exposure to perchlorate, a toxic component of rocket fuel that 
contaminates drinking water systems in 35 states, including California:

· S.24, the Perchlorate Monitoring and Right to Know Act requires EPA to 
reestablish its previous perchlorate in drinking water monitoring rule, 
until a drinking water standard requires monitoring. It also requires 
that people be told about perchlorate contamination in their drinking 
water.

· S. 150, Protecting Pregnant Women and Children from Perchlorate Act in 
January of 2007 requires the EPA to promptly create a perchlorate health 
advisory and then a drinking water standard, both of which must protect 
vulnerable persons, including pregnant women and children.

Limiting the Use of Mercury

S. 906, the Mercury Market Minimization Act, prohibits the export of 
elemental mercury from the United States, and prohibits federal agencies 
from selling elemental mercury, in order to help reduce exposure to this 
dangerous toxin worldwide.

Safeguarding women and children from exposure to TCE

S. 1911, The TCE Reduction Act, would force EPA to update tap water 
standards to protect people, including susceptible populations, such as 
pregnant women, infants and children, from Trichloroethylene (TCE), a 
solvent that is the most common organic groundwater contaminant in the 
United States, and which causes cancer, including childhood cancer, and 
birth defects. The bill also requires EPA to set a "health advisory" 
that warns people at what level TCE is dangerous.

Advancing Environmental Justice

S. 2549, The Environmental Justice Renewal Act, requires federal 
agencies to implement plans to identify and then reduce or eliminate 
environmental justice threats, and to expand their efforts to gather 
information about environmental justice problems and help develop 
solutions to such serious issues. This will help protect those 
populations that are disproportionately burdened by pollution.

S. 642, The Environmental Justice Act of 2007, requires implementation 
of the Clinton Executive Order on environmental justice, and strengthens 
federal efforts to address environmental justice problems. It also 
requires agencies to implement environmental justice recommendations 
from the Government Accountability Office and EPA's Inspector General.

E-Manifest for Hazardous Waste

S. 3109, Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest Establishment Act, would 
authorize an electronic manifest system to track hazardous waste 
shipments to protect public health and the environment, while reducing 
paperwork, and improving government and public access to data.

Providing Grants for Drinking Water and Sanitation

S. 1933, the Small Community Drinking Water Funding Act, requires the 
Administrator of the EPA to establish a Small Public Water System 
Assistance Program, including a program for Indian tribes, to assist 
small water systems in complying with national primary drinking water 
regulations. The bill provides an authorization of $750 million annually 
for seven years.

S. 199, Rural Alaska Native Village Water and Sewer Bill, modifies grant 
programs under the Safe Drinking Water Act to help improve sanitation in 
rural and Native villages in the State of Alaska.

Cleaning up the Great Lakes

S.2994, Great Lakes Legacy Act reauthorizes the Great Lakes Legacy Act 
of 2002 and expands the existing program to improve environmental and 
water quality in the Great Lakes by greatly reducing contaminated 
sediments in the Lakes.

###



...

For the original release, see
http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Majority.PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=79d97c84-802a-23ad-4cec-74676e201df4&Designation=Majority

--


Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
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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