[CPEO-MEF] PERCHLORATE: "Biden EPA Refuses to Protect Drinking Water from Toxic Perchlorate ..."

[Lenny Siegel <LSiegel@cpeo.org>]

News Release
Natural Resources Defense Council
March 31, 2022

Biden EPA Refuses to Protect Drinking Water from Toxic Perchlorate, Affirms Trump EPA Decision to Leave Millions Exposed to the Chemical 


WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced it would not regulate perchlorate, a toxic component of rocket fuel associated with brain damage in fetuses and infants, leaving millions of people unknowingly exposed to the chemical through their tap water. The determination affirms a Trump EPA decision to not regulate perchlorate in drinking water. 

“The EPA’s failure to protect drinking water from widespread perchlorate contamination is unscientific, unlawful, and unconscionable,” said Erik D. Olson, Senior Strategic Director for Health at NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council). “The Trump EPA gave perchlorate a pass; it was a bad decision then, and it’s a bad decision now. Tap water across America will remain contaminated by this toxic chemical, which threatens the brain development of babies in the womb, infants, and young children at extremely low levels.” 

The Trump EPA relied on a deeply flawed analysis to select a “safe” perchlorate level that is 10 or more times higher than health-based limits set by state authorities who have evaluated the same data. EPA then compared levels of perchlorate in tap water to their unjustifiably high “safe” levels and said there are not a lot of systems exceeding safe levels, so there is no need for regulation of perchlorate. The agency relied primarily upon a two decade-old EPA snapshot of perchlorate levels in tap water and ignored other more recent data from USGS and others showing widespread perchlorate contamination. The Biden EPA has now embraced the Trump Administration’s analysis. While the EPA has determined it will not regulate perchlorate, today’s announcement includes a few modest steps the Agency will take, including…

For the entire release, see
https://www.nrdc.org/media/2022/220331-1

—

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
A project of the Pacific Studies Center
LSiegel@cpeo.org
P.O. Box 998, Mountain View, CA 94042
Voice/Fax: 650-961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org
Author: DISTURBING THE WAR: The Inside Story of the Movement to Get Stanford University out of Southeast Asia - 1965–1975 (See http://a3mreunion.org)

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