EPA to Lower Level for Arsenic in Water

[Guest guest]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33969-2001Apr18.html

© 2001 The Washington Post Company

EPA to Lower Level for Arsenic in Water

By Mike

Washington Post Staff Writer

Thursday, April 19, 2001; Page A08

The Bush administration said yesterday that it will consider allowing more

arsenic in drinking water than President Bill Clinton would have permitted,

but said the new level will be much lower than is currently allowed.

Todd Whitman, administrator of the Environmental Protection

Agency, said the new level will be set after a study by the National

Academy of Sciences. She said economic consequences will figure in setting

the new level.

The EPA said the new rule will be in place 11 months after Clinton's would

have taken effect. Environmentalists accused Bush officials of stalling.

Last month, Whitman suspended a Clinton administration regulation -- to be

effective March 23 -- lowering the permissible level of arsenic in drinking

water from 50 parts per billion to 10.

The EPA said in a news release that Whitman " took this step because of her

concerns that the initial study had been rushed and a more precise

scientific review was required. " The administration came under immediate

criticism from Democratic lawmakers and environmentalists.

Whitman said yesterday that the EPA is considering a standard of three to

20 parts per billion. The EPA has commissioned a study of that range from

the National Academy of Sciences, which said it could complete a report in

five months.

The EPA said it expects to have the new standard in place by Feb. 22.

Enforcement is to begin in 2006, which, the EPA said, is the first time

that Clinton's rule would have carried penalties.

" I have said consistently that we will obtain the necessary scientific

review to ensure a standard that fully protects the health of all

Americans, and that we will establish that standard in a timely manner, "

Whitman said. " This is precisely what we are doing today. "

Whitman said she will ask the National Drinking Water Advisory Council to

review economic issues associated with a standard, because it could

increase costs for smaller water systems and the communities they serve.

Tina Kreisher, an EPA associate administrator, said the agency will " more

than likely " adopt the academy's recommendation as the new regulation. But

scientists have said they cannot pick a specific number, which they

consider to be a public policy decision.

The academy said in 1999 that the standard should be lowered from the

current level immediately, but did not give a new target.

The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit organization with

a congressional charter to advise the government. Bill Kearney, a

spokesman, said it would take a few weeks to appoint a panel of about

eight. Then the study would take four months. He said there has been " some

significant research " done since the last study, and that information will

be considered by the new panel.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) called the announcement " a huge step

backward " and said the Bush administration " should be ashamed. "

" I intend to do everything in my power to fight this, " she said.

Yesterday's announcement came after two consecutive days in which Bush had

said he would uphold a Clinton environmental regulation that had been held

up as part of Bush's review of all of Clinton's last-minute orders.

Debbie Cease, national legislative director of the Sierra Club, said the

announcement was designed to look like action by the administration, when

in fact it is a matter of restudying a topic that has been frequently studied.

Philip E. Clapp, president of the National Environmental Trust, said, " The

science is already clear: At levels even below the standard the president

revoked, arsenic in drinking water causes cancer. "

© 2001 The Washington Post Company