Guest guest Posted September 10, 2004 Report Share Posted September 10, 2004 > Fri, 10 Sep 2004 13:06:40 GMT > " BushGreenwatch " <info > Bush Administration Plans to Relax Toxic > Controls -- Again > > *************************************** > BUSHGREENWATCH > Tracking the Bush Administration's Environmental > Misdeeds > http://www.bushgreenwatch.org > *************************************** > > September 10, 2004 > > BUSH ADMINISTRATION PLANS TO RELAX TOXIC CONTROLS -- > AGAIN > > The Bush administration, which has unswervingly > favored the > chemical and power industries on environmental and > health > protections, plans to once again relax government > regulation of > toxic substances in favor of weaker standards being > promoted by > industry. > > At issue are national standards regulating the > amount of > selenium that can be discharged into waterways by > power > companies, farmers and mining operations. The > current standards > for selenium were established after the toxic metal > caused mass > deformities of waterfowl in California's Central > Valley during > the 1980s. > > Now the administration has drafted a plan, supported > by industry > scientists, that would weaken current standards in > two ways, > according to an August 31 story in the Sacramento > Bee. [1] > > According to the Bee, EPA plans to switch from a > water-based to > a fish-based standard, meaning the government would > stop > measuring how much selenium was getting into the > water and start > looking at how much had been absorbed by local fish. > The draft > calls for a concentration of 7.91 parts per million > in fish, > whereas current standards allow no more than 5 parts > per million > in water. > > Scientists in other federal agencies, such as the > U.S. Fish and > Wildlife Service, oppose the plan to weaken the > standards. They > say the higher levels of selenium will cause birds > to lose more > than 50 percent of their offspring, the Bee reports. > They also > say the proposed standard is based on a flawed > analysis of a > study that vastly overstated survival rates for > contaminated > fish. > > Selenium comes from a variety of sources around the > country, > including phosphate mines in Idaho, copper mines in > Utah, > mountaintop coal mines in West Virginia, > coal-burning power > plants and farms. It is the latest in a series of > toxic > substances for which the administration has sought > to weaken > regulations. > > Earlier the Bush administration weakened the U.S. > position on > Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), substantially > reduced > efforts to clean up mercury pollution, and sought to > replace the > Clean Air Act with its far less effective, " Clear > Skies " > program, which experts say would actually increase > the number of > deaths from air pollution each year. > > ### > > NOTE: Thanks to an outpouring of citizen protests > (BushGreenwatch, Sept. 8), the U.S. Forest Service > announced on > Wednesday that it will extend the public comment > period to > November 15 on its plan to rescind the Roadless > Forest > Conservation Rule. The rule calls for 58.5 million > acres of > America's National Forests to be protected from > logging, mining > and drilling. The Service had earlier set a deadline > of > September 14 for public comments. Comments may be > sent to: > http://ga3.org/ct/H1zkGk91yjJs/. > > ### > > SOURCES: > [1] " Battle Over Toxic Metal: EPA Appears Set to > Relax Standards > for Selenium, Which Led to Deformities in Waterfowl > in 1980s, " > Sacramento Bee, Aug. 31, 2004, > http://ga3.org/ct/GdzkGk91yjJc/. > > *************************************** > :: TELL A FRIEND ABOUT BUSHGREENWATCH > http://ga3.org/ct/HdzkGk91yjJx/ > > :: READ BACK ISSUES > http://ga3.org/ct/HpzkGk91yjJe/ > *************************************** > > BushGreenwatch > 1320 18th Street NW 5th Floor > Washington, DC 20036 > (202) 463-6670 > Web site comments: info > > Copyright © 2003 Environmental Media Services > ----------------- > > If you received this message from a friend, you can > sign up for > BushGreenwatch at: > > http://ga3.org/bushgreenwatch/join.html?r=hpzkGk91SaRIE > > ----------------- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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