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NEWS
ALERT SERVICE!
Senate Supports Tougher Arsenic Standard
President
Bush may be spared a difficult decision on arsenic, as
the Senate, on August 1, voted 97-1 for a
"watered-down" amendment to the USEPA 2002
appropriations bill. The Senate amendment, co-sponsored
by Senators Boxer (D-CA), Reid (D-NV) and Biden (D-DE),
is very different than the House version passed last
week. The House action. if it had been passed by
the Senate and signed by the President, would have
effectively stopped EPA's ongoing review of the arsenic
rule. This amendment does not preclude continuing
expenditures by USEPA for the review, does not mention a
specific arsenic level, and leaves the timing open to
interpretation. It does agree with the House
amendment in requiring arsenic language to be included
in early CCRs if arsenic is detected above five parts
per billion.
The
exact wording of the amendment as approved by the Senate
is as follows:
The Administrator of the Environmental Protection
Agency, pursuant to the Safe Drinking Water Act, shall
immediately put into effect a new national primary
drinking water regulation for arsenic that--
(1) establishes a standard for arsenic at a level
providing for the protection of the population in
general, fully taking into account those at greater
risk, such as infants, children, pregnant women, the
elderly and those with a history of serious illness;
and
(2) lifts the suspension on the effective date for
the community right to know requirements included in the
national primary drinking water regulation for arsenic
published on January 22, 2001, in the Federal Register
(66 Fed. Reg. 6976).
The meaning of the word "immediately" is
not clear at this time. This is particularly true
since there must now be a Conference Committee made up
of House and Senate members to develop some compromise
between the very different versions. Since
Congress is primed to leave DC for a month's vacation,
it is likely that the Conference Committee will not meet
until September and the President may not see the
appropriations bill until almost October 1, 2001.
Presumably, the work of EPA's three advisory committees
on arsenic will be completed, available for public
review and comment, and possibly a new regulation
proposal published by that time. The impact of the
"greater risk" population mandate on EPA's
rule proposal is also unclear.
Concurrently, Senator Domenici (R-NM) announced new
legislation to provide grant funds to water systems that
may be hit hard by any new arsenic rule.
- The complete debate and
discussion of the Senate arsenic amendment
to the EPA appropriations bill is available (Congressional
Record, August 1)
- In another demonstration that the
"arsenic in drinking water" story has
legs, the nation's news media provided instant and
interesting coverage, wherein everyone
claimed victory
(Yahoo News, August 2), the
confrontation with Bush may have been averted
(Associated Press, August 2), an
arsenic occurrence map led into "quick action
urged" (MSNBC, August 2),
and from California,
"Set
the standard, set it low, and set it fast"
(LA Times, August 2)
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