Reid says change in EPA stance is ‘outrageous’

Wednesday, March 21, 2001 | 9:50 a.m.

Nevada's senior senator is angry over the Environmental Protection Agency's announcement it intends to reverse course on a lower arsenic standard for drinking water.

But the state's junior senator is expressing cautious support.

EPA Administrator Christie Whitman on Tuesday said she would withdraw a pending arsenic standard for drinking water that was issued Jan. 22. The rule would have reduced the acceptable level of arsenic in drinking water from 50 parts per billion -- a standard in place since 1942 -- to 10 parts per billion.

The EPA wants 60 days so it can oversee independent reviews regarding the science behind the standard. Additionally the EPA wants to review cost estimates for communities such as Fallon, 60 miles east of Reno, which would have to commit millions of dollars to remove naturally occurring arsenic -- at a rate of 100 parts per billion -- from the drinking water.

Washoe County water officials asked the federal government this week to lower the proposed arsenic standards. They said 20 of 29 wells for sale by Sierra Pacific Resources' Water Division contain arsenic levels that could cost Reno residents millions of dollars.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., the ranking member of the Senate's Environment and Public Works Committee, blasted the move by the Republican administration.

"It is totally outrageous that three days before this rule was to be implemented the Bush administration has backed away from protecting public health," Reid said.

Chronic exposure to arsenic in drinking water has been known to cause cancer of the bladder, lungs and skin and could cause cancer of the liver and kidneys, studies indicate.

The metal has also been linked to blocking hormones in rats, Dartmouth University scientists reported this week. Arsenic disrupts the family of steroid hormones that include estrogen and testosterone, the researchers reported in Science News.

Reid and Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., earlier this month introduced a bill to provide $750 million annually for small communities to upgrade drinking water systems to meet the new arsenic limit.

"Instead of allowing cost to prevail over public safety, Congress should enact legislation to provide the resources to help meet these important new public health standards," Reid said.

Ensign said Whitman's decision was "the right thing to do." A 60-day delay would not cause further harm, said the senator, noting that questions had been raised over a National Academy of Sciences review of the arsenic research.

"I want to set policy based on science," Ensign said. When the federal government proposes stricter standards it also should provide a means of paying for the tougher limits.

The Natural Resources Defense Council called the withdrawal "a craven capitulation to the mining industry and other corporate interests."

The NRDC had proposed a 3 parts per billion standard, then last year sued the EPA to toughen the standard, said senior attorney Erik Olson.