HOUSE BLOCKS REDUCTIONS IN ARSENIC, RADON IN DRINKING WATER AND SMOG

Congress defied public opinion and common sense by voting against reducing the arsenic and radon in our nation's drinking water and smog from our air

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AmeriScan: June 22, 2000 - HOUSE BLOCKS REDUCTIONS IN ARSENIC, RADON IN DRINKING WATER AND SMOG

 WASHINGTON, DC, June 22, 2000 (ENS) - The U.S. House of Representatives voted Wednesday against efforts to reduce the amount of arsenic and radon in drinking water. Through a rider on the EPA budget bill for fiscal year 2001, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will be barred from completing regulations to reduce levels of arsenic in drinking water. Another rider stops the agency from issuing a new standard for radon levels in drinking water, and a third halts cleanup of contaminated sediments in waterways. A separate measure blocks EPA action to reduce smog (click on url above for complete story).

"Congress defied public opinion and common sense by voting against reducing the arsenic and radon in our nation's drinking water and smog from our air," said Ed Hopkins, Sierra Club senior representative. "You don't need a Ph.D. to know that if you can remove arsenic, radon and smog levels, you vote yes." The current standard for arsenic levels in drinking water was set in 1942, and the EPA has been blocked in several attempts to update the standard. A 1999 National Academy of Sciences report found that the current standard is unsafe, and should be revised "as promptly as possible."  The radon rider directs the EPA to delay implementation of a drinking water standard. In 1996, Congress' Safe Drinking Water Act amendments ordered EPA to issue a radon rule for tap water by August 2000. Two 1999 National Academy of Sciences studies that found that radon is known to cause cancer in humans. "The House's belief that it knows more about safe drinking water than the National Academy of Sciences and the EPA is a threat to our families' health," Hopkins said. "Hopefully, the Senate will show more concern for our nation's drinking water and remove these harmful riders."

I sincerely hope you all remember to vote in November and get some people in office that want to protect YOU and not pollution PROFITS!  Steve

(Editor's Note:  Okay, at what point do the people start meaning more than profits?  Government officials can be sued for malfeasance... is endangering and killing off the population not considered malfeasance?)

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