Reid, Lieberman object to perchlorate policy

Monday, May 5, 2003 | 9:56 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The Environmental Protection Agency should lift an agency gag order that prevents EPA authorities from discussing perchlorate, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said.

In a letter written by Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., and co-signed by Reid, to EPA Administrator Christie Whitman, the senators said the public should know more about the toxic chemical's health risks.

"The idea of gagging public officials charged with protecting public health in the midst of a public debate is noxious on its face," the senators wrote.

EPA officials have said there is no gag order, and agency staffers were scheduled to meet with aides to the senators today to discuss the issue.

Perchlorate is a key ingredient in rocket fuel that has been found to have leaked into water supplies from fuel plant sites nationwide, including from the Kerr-McGee Corp. plant in Henderson, into Lake Mead, the drinking water source for Southern Nevada. The plant is involved in a cleanup program.

Attention to perchlorate cleanup has received renewed attention in Congress because the Defense Department is asking Congress to be exempted from a number of environmental rules. Pentagon officials say the rules limit their ability to train troops. Lawmakers are worried the proposal could leave the Pentagon a legal loophole to avoid cleanup efforts.

Last week a Wall Street Journal story said EPA officials are barred from publicly discussing perchlorate pollution pending a National Academy of Sciences study of the deadly substance, a review that could take months.

The public should have immediate access to EPA data on perchlorate, the senators said.

In their letter the senators asked that the gag order be removed and that the EPA provide them with the agency's views on the latest science on perchlorate, and on whether contamination at Defense Department facilities poses a risk to public health.