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WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Thursday said it would support the Trump-era decision and would not impose limits on drinking water. perchloratea pollutant linked to brain damage in infants.
Announcement from the Environmental Protection Agency shocked public health advocates who condemned the Trump administration in 2020 to choose not to regulate the perchlorate. The chemical is a component found in rocket fuel, munitions, and explosives. Exposure can harm the development of fetuses and children and cause a measurable decrease in IQ in newborns.
The Trump administration found that perchlorate does not meet regulatory criteria because it does not occur “often and at the level of public health concern” in drinking water. Activists at the time accused the EPA of ignoring science.
After President Biden took office, the agency initiated a review of the decision and endorsed it Thursday, saying it was “backed by the best peer-reviewed science available.”
The EPA said it will take other measures, such as installing new monitoring tools “to ensure public health is protected from perchlorate in drinking water,” and doing more to clean up contaminated areas.
The agency said in a statement that it “will continue to evaluate new information about the occurrence and health effects of perchlorate.” The EPA said its decision did not affect any state standards for the chemical. California and Massachusetts, for example, have set their own limits for perchlorate in drinking water.
Erik D. Olson, senior strategic director for health at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an advocacy group, said these measures were not sufficient.
“We are extremely disappointed and think it is unscientific and unlawful not to regulate this contaminant found in the drinking water of millions of people,” he said. “They don’t follow the best science.”
Perchlorate can occur naturally, but high concentrations have been found in at least 26 states, often near military facilities where it is used as an additive in rocket fuel, making propellants more reliable. Studies have shown that by interfering with the thyroid gland’s uptake of iodine, perchlorate can inhibit the production of hormones essential for the development of fetuses, infants, and children.
Perchlorat Information Bureau spokesman Bill Romanelli, a coalition funded by aerospace contractors such as Aerojet Rocketdyne, American Pacific Corporation, and Lockheed Martin, applauded the Biden administration.
“The EPA’s decision today that perchlorate does not deserve additional federal regulation is based on the best available scientific information, ensures the protection of public health and the environment, and guarantees access to clean water,” Mr Romanelli said in a statement.
He described perchlorate as “one of the best-studied environmental chemicals the EPA has ever considered.” He said peer-reviewed studies have found that the chemical does not occur in public water systems at a frequency and level that would cause concern.
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The war over perchlorate goes back to the early 2000s, when the administration of President George W. Bush decided not to regulate it.
The Obama administration reversed that decision by publishing a finding in 2011 that perchlorate in drinking water poses a serious health risk to as many as 16 million people in the United States. It issued a recommendation stating that 15 micrograms per liter is the highest concentration of perchlorate in water that the most sensitive populations, such as pregnant women, should receive.
But the Department of Defense and military contractors such as Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman made aggressive efforts to circumvent the controls, and the war dragged on.
The Trump administration in 2020 reversed Obama’s decision and also reversed the health finding, saying it was “not in the public interest” to regulate the pollutant.
Environmental groups sued the EPA for its non-regulation decision, but President Biden suspended his cases after he took office in 2021.
Pushing the “strongest possible” limits on the pollutant, the American Academy of Pediatrics declined to comment on Thursday, telling the agency that perchlorate can cause a significant drop in newborns’ IQs.
Mr. Olson said the lawsuit against the EPA will now resume in an effort to force the agency to enforce standards for perchlorate.
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