EPA Won’t Relax Arsenic Rule, Officials Say

The Environmental Protection Agency has concluded that it must adopt a new standard for the amount of naturally occurring arsenic allowed in the nation’s drinking water that is at least as tough as the one proposed by the Clinton administration, officials said Monday.

EPA Administrator Christie Whitman decided to recommend a stringent new limit after receiving a report from the National Academy of Sciences that found that the health risks posed by arsenic are much greater than previously assumed by the EPA, according to agency officials.

“This increases our concern about arsenic and what the level should be,” an EPA official said Monday night.

The decision addresses one of the most controversial environmental decisions the Bush administration has made. In March, the administration set aside a Clinton administration regulation tightening the 50-year federal standard for arsenic levels in drinking water from 50 parts per billion to 10 ppb. The move touched off criticism from Democrats, environmentalists and moderate Republicans and prompted a House vote seeking to reverse the action.

Whitman charged at the time that the Clinton rule had been hastily crafted without adequate scientific study or consideration of the costs for small communities that would have to change their filtration systems. She ordered further examination, by the academy and other bodies.

The review focused on alternative standards--ranging from as low as 3 ppb to as high as 20 ppb. The academy concluded that the health risks are greater than had been thought at any of those reduced levels.

After receipt of the report, an agency official said: “We are not going to go above 10 parts per billion,” said the official. “That’s just not going to happen.”

Arsenic occurs naturally in rocks, soil, water, air, plants and animals. High levels are found most commonly in drinking water in Western states. International studies have linked long-term exposure to arsenic in drinking water to cancer of the bladder, lungs, skin, kidney, nasal passages, liver and prostate, according to the EPA. The EPA’s proposal must still be approved by the White House. A spokesman for the president could not be reached.

A separate study conducted by the National Drinking Water Advisory Council, which advises the EPA on drinking water safety, concluded last month that the Clinton administration had done a “credible job” of calculating the costs to water systems of toughening the standards to 10 ppb.

Environmentalists said Monday night that, taken together, the two studies seriously undermined the rationale for blocking the Clinton administration rule.