EPA, NRDC Agree to Six-Month Delay of Perchlorate Standard

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Natural Resources Defense Council have agreed to extend the deadline for the agency to finalize a rule on perchlorate in drinking water by six months, reports Inside EPA ... In an October 1 filing with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, EPA and NRDC say, “the parties have stipulated to extend the deadline ... for perchlorate from December 19, 2019, to June 19, 2020” ... Last May, EPA proposed an MCLG and Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) of 56 parts per billion (ppb), notes Inside EPA; “in that proposal, the agency also asked the public to comment by Aug. 26 on a variety of other options including setting levels more and less stringent or not regulating the chemical at all in drinking water, given new information on occurrence levels.”  When EPA proposed the perchlorate rule, “it sought comment on setting the MCL and MCLG at 18 ppb, 90 ppb, or withdrawing EPA’s 2011 determination to regulate perchlorate at all in drinking water,” writes the newsletter.  “As such, the proposal could test the agency’s discretion under Safe Drinking Water Act to forgo setting an enforceable standard, an area of that law that sources say is still evolving,” says Inside EPA.
Mark Gibson
American Chemistry Council
October 11, 2019

 Proposed 56 ppb rule is "too lax" (Vorel)

The Environmental Protection Network appreciates the opportunity to provide a statement on our comments on the EPA’s proposed new drinking water standard for perchlorate ... On August 26, 2019, EPN submitted comments to EPA raising serious concerns about its proposed new drinking water standard for perchlorate ... Due to serious questions about the scientific defensibility of the EPA perchlorate regulation and the validity of the monitoring and cost-benefit analysis, EPN strongly recommends that EPA: (1) submit a new proposal that does not include an option to withdraw from the 2011 regulatory determination; (2) recalculate the MCLG and MCL with an appropriately sensitive endpoint, an adequate margin of safety, and a peer-reviewed RSC; and (3) develop cost-effective monitoring recommendations and a cost-benefit analysis that accounts for co-benefits.
Environmental Protection Network
Statement to National Drinking Water Advisory Council
November 22, 2019

 

Kreeger Bldg. well on AU campus detected 

perchlorate over twice the MCL [pg. 36]

This week, the Sierra Club joined dozens of environmental and health scientists and advocates in demanding that the EPA protect women and children from perchlorate — an industrial chemical that contaminates drinking water for millions of people in the United States.  After years of studying the impact of perchlorate exposure, the EPA is proposing a drinking water standard that is too lax and would put millions of American children at risk of developing long-term health problems.  The EPA proposes to set a water standard of 56 ppb for perchlorate, which is completely insufficient.  For comparison, the state of Massachusetts requires water utilities to treat water with more than 2 parts per billion, and advocates insist that 1 part per billion is a scientifically sound, safer limit.  Advocates’ concerns are backed up by the EPA’s own research, which confirms that perchlorate is harmful to the thyroid during pregnancy and infancy.  Perchlorate blocks the thyroid’s ability to take up iodine and alters thyroid hormones.  Exposure to perchlorate during short periods of pregnancy can impair fetal brain development and have lasting effects on children’s attention, intelligence and behavior.
Sonya Lunder
Sierra Club
September 4, 2019