EPA to regulate potentially harmful chemical found in drinking water

By Andrew Restuccia - 02/02/11 11:05 AM ET

In a reversal of Bush administration policy, the Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday it will regulate a chemical found in drinking water that could affect infant and child development.

EPA said it plans to regulate perchlorate, which is found naturally and used in rocket fuel and fireworks, under the Safe Drinking Water Act. The announcement comes after EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson called on federal scientists to review the health implications of perchlorate in drinking water.

The agency said perchlorate can affect the thyroid’s ability to produce hormones that are essential for infant and child development.

“Clean water is critical to the health and prosperity of every American community and a fundamental concern to every American family,” Jackson said in a statement. “EPA is hard at work on innovative ways to improve protections for the water we drink and give to our children, and the development of these improved standards is an important step forward.”

The Bush administration in 2008 decided not to regulate perchlorate. Environmentalists and lawmakers, including Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), have been pushing the EPA to regulate the chemical for years.

“I will do everything I can to make sure this new protection moves forward,” Boxer said in a statement.

The announcement comes as Jackson is testifying in front of Boxer’s Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Wednesday morning on public health and drinking water.

Republicans are already pushing back against the announcement. A staffer for committee ranking Republican James Inhofe (R-Okla.) told The Hill Wednesday that there is not enough scientific research to show that perchlorate will harm human health at the levels found in drinking water.

The staffer said it may be prohibitively expensive for small communities to buy the new equipment required to monitor perchlorate levels in the water supply.

“We’re talking about exceptionally limited resources for communities,” the staffer said.