EPA Shelves Arsenic Standard
The Bush administration on Tuesday rescinded a decision made three days before the end of Bill Clinton's presidency to require 3,000 communities to upgrade their water systems to protect against arsenic poisoning.
The Environmental Protection Agency said it was withdrawing the new standards reducing allowable levels of arsenic in drinking water by 80 percent until it can review the science and costs more.
"I am committed to safe and affordable drinking water for all Americans. I want to be sure that the conclusions about arsenic in the rule are supported by the best available science," said EPA Administrator Christie Whitman.
"When the federal government imposes costs on communities — especially small communities — we should be sure the facts support imposing the federal standard," she said.
The decision doesn't change existing regulations, since the Clinton rules were not to take effect for some time, but the move drew harsh criticism from some Democrats and environmentalists.
Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, the senior Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said that by abandoning the new arsenic standard the EPA was "ignoring a very real threat to human health."
He said the agency's move would discourage communities from moving forward with improvements to their own water systems.
The new drinking water rule was intended to update an arsenic standard that has been in effect for nearly 60 years. It would have cut the acceptable level of arsenic in drinking water from 50 parts per billion to 10 parts per billion.
Arsenic is both a naturally occurring substance and industrial byproduct. Environmentalists have argued for years that the arsenic standard set in 1942 should be lowered.
"The scientific indicators are unclear as to whether the standard needs to be as low as 10 parts per billion," Whitman said.
Indeed, the World Health Organization contends that, "There is no consensus on the definition of arsenic poisoning."
The EPA had proposed setting it at 5 parts per billion last year in response to a lawsuit by the Natural Resources Defense Council but then settled at 10 parts per billion. In 1999, the National Academy of Sciences found arsenic in drinking water causes bladder, lung and skin cancer, and might cause liver and kidney cancer.
NRDC said it will file another suit challenging Tuesday's decision.
The NRDC claims that estimates based on EPA data reveal 34 million Americans drink water with too much arseni in it.
"This outrageous act is just another example of how the polluters have taken over the government," said Erik D. Olson, an attorney for the environmental group, referring to the mining interests that are the source of some arsenic.
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The industry has complained about a series of rules issued in the waning hours of the Clinton presidency. Besides the arsenic standard, the National Mining Association (NMA) has also targeted surface management rules set forth by the Bureau of Land Management and black lung rules sponsored by the Labor Department.
"The government's own economic analyses confirms that these rules will adversely affect our nation in the form of job loss and decreased economic benefit," said a statement by the NMA. "This will be especially detrimental to our nation's rural western communities."
The arsenic decision was the latest in a series of administration moves that have angered environmentalists. The White House defends its policies as part of an effort to reverse excessive regulations that will squeeze businesses, cost jobs or raise taxes.
Last week, Mr. Bush said he had changed his mind and decided against regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant contributing to global warming. The administration also relaxed rules on adding ethanol to gasoline sold in the Midwest.
The Agriculture Department also moved last week to lift Clinton administration orders banning logging and road-building in about one-third othe nation's national forests. And the White House this week began a push to consider exploratory oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
The administration also announced Tuesday it would honor a consent decree to toughen pesticide regulations that EPA signed with environmental groups and farm workers the day before Mr. Clinton left office. But it said it would take a new look at some of the risk assessments in re-evaluating pesticides.
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