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Monday, September 22, 2008

White House, EPA Protecting Rocket Fuel Polluters

The Bush administration will continue to allow perchlorate, a chemical found primarily in rocket fuel, to pollute America's drinking water supply. Perchlorate has been found to disrupt thyroid functions in humans, and can be particularly dangerous for infants and children. Yet, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will pass on an upcoming opportunity to set a new limit for drinking water, according to The Washington Post.

The Post obtained an early copy of EPA's "preliminary regulatory determination" on perchlorate. The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has been making significant edits to the document in order to downplay the negative health effects of the chemical, according to the Post. OMB has been reviewing the document since September 4.

From the Post:

The EPA document also finds that bottle-fed infants would be exposed to more than five times the level the National Academy of Sciences deemed safe -- 700 nanograms per kilogram of body weight per day -- if parents mix formula with drinking water containing perchlorate levels of 15 ppb.

OMB officials said during the drafting process that there was "no need" for detailed data to flesh out a table suggesting that infants would be exposed to perchlorate levels above the academy's recommendation.

To determine safe levels of exposure, the administration opted not to use the academy's "reference dose," a formula that includes a tenfold safety factor to protect children and vulnerable populations, and instead used a computer model developed by the Chemical Industry Institute of Toxicology. EPA officials initially inserted language in the document calling this a "novel approach," but the OMB deleted that language.

This is not the first time OMB has meddled with EPA's efforts to regulate, or not regulate, perchlorate. The Bush White House and the Department of Defense — a major rocket fuel user and, subsequently, perchlorate polluter — have spent years working hard to make sure the Pentagon and defense contractors won't have to clean up their acts. More on that here.