Information about the vote from special interest groups and other information providers in our Report Cards:
Sierra Club
Prohibiting EPA from delaying or weakening the standard for arsenic in drinking water.
The House approved an amendment offered by Reps. David Bonior (D-MI) and Henry Waxman (D-MI) that would prohibit the EPA from expending funds to delay or weaken the current standard for arsenic in drinking water. More than 12 million Americans are drinking water with unsafe levels of arsenic, increasing their risk of cancer and other serious diseases. The Bush Administration is considering changing the drinking water standards for arsenic, which were strengthened under the Clinton Administration.
The Bonior/Waxman amendment to the VA-HUD-Independent Agencies appropriations bill (H.R. 2620) passed.
League of Conservation Voters
Arsenic.
According to the National Academy of Sciences, arsenic in drinking water may cause bladder, lung, and skin cancer, harm the nervous system, heart and blood vessels, and cause birth defects and reproductive problems. Extensive scientific evidence indicates that a maximum allowable level of 50 parts per billion (ppb) for arsenic in tap water does not do enough to protect the public against this potent carcinogen. However, the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) standard remained at that level from 1942 until the Clinton administration reduced it to 10 ppb in January 2001.
On March 22, EPA Administrator Christine Whitman suspended the new 10 ppb standard, arguing that it was too strict. Despite the findings of six National Academy of Sciences reports that supported a lower standard, Whitman argued that the rule was not based on “sound science.” In September, the Academy issued its seventh arsenic report, which concluded that even the 10 ppb standard presents risks of lung and bladder cancer about 30 times higher than the EPA's “maximum acceptable” cancer risk.
During consideration of H.R. 2620, the VA-HUD and Independent Agencies appropriations bill (which funds the EPA), Representative David Bonior (D-MI) introduced an amendment to prohibit the EPA from delaying or weakening the January 2001 standard of 10 ppb. Environmentalists argued that the 10 ppb standard would protect thousands of Americans from the risk of cancer. The House approved the Bonior amendment.
House-Senate conferees later accepted a modified version of the Bonior amendment that would have required EPA to issue a standard no weaker than 10 ppb. In September, just before the conferees reached agreement, EPA Administrator Whitman announced that she would uphold the 10 ppb standard.
American Conservative Union
Arsenic Standards.
Bonior (D-MI) amendment affirming the last-minute Clinton Administration requirement for sharply lower arsenic content in drinking water. The standards impose enormous costs on small water systems, with no demonstrable gain in health. This amendment was adopted.U.S. Public Interest Research Group
Clean Water/Reduce Arsenic in Drinking Water.
More than 30 million people in the nation drink water with dangerous levels of arsenic. Arsenic can cause cancer of the skin, bladder, and lungs, and may cause cancers of the liver, kidney, and colon. Arsenic also may harm the nervous, immunological, pulmonary, cardiovascular, developmental and reproductive systems. In January 2001, after decades of study, debate, and three missed statutory deadlines, EPA lowered the legal limit of arsenic in tap water from 50 parts per billion (ppb), set in 1942, to 10 ppb.
However, on May 22, 2001, EPA delayed the rule until February 22, 2002 and asked the National Academy of Sciences to review the science on arsenic’s health effects. The NAS confirmed that arsenic is a dangerous substance that causes cancer at very low levels and that it is related to a variety of non-cancer health impacts. Reps. Waxman (D-CA), Bonior (D-MI), and Brown (D-OH) offered an amendment to force the EPA to restore the 10 ppb standard. The House passed the amendment.
Population Connection
2002 Environmental Protection Agency Appropriations/Drinking Water Standards.
The House approved a pro-environment amendment offered by Rep. David Bonior (D-MI) to preserve drinking water standards. The amendment would prevent the Bush administration from delaying or weakening new tougher arsenic-in-drinking-water standards issued in January by President Bill Clinton's administration.American Public Health Association
End delay on standard on arsenic in drinking water - H.R. 2620, FY 2002
Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development and Environmental Protection Agency Appropriations. Bonior, D-Mich., amendment
to prohibit the use
of funds in the bill to
delay national drinking
water standards for
arsenic or to further delay
rule to raise arsenic levels
under those regulations.
Passed.
In
January 2001, the Clinton
administration issued a
proposal to reduce the
allowable levels of arsenic
in drinking water from 50
parts per billion to 10
parts per billion. After taking
office, President Bush
issued an order to effectively
delay the implementation
of the new, stronger
standard. With the passage
of the Bonior amendment
and strong opposition to
further delay, EPA relented
and will move forward
with the 10 parts per billion
standard. Relevant
APHA policy: 200015.