December 2008
U.S. Water News Online
SANTA FE, N.M. — New Mexico Environment Secretary Ron Curry wants the federal government to regulate the chemical perchlorate to ensure greater protections for the state's drinking water.
Perchlorate, a component of rocket fuel, has been found in numerous drinking water systems and aquifers across the state, according to the Environment Department. The contaminant can have health effects for pregnant women, newborns and children.
The Environmental Protection Agency made a preliminarily decision earlier this fall that it would not set a drinking water safety standard for the chemical, prompting Curry to detail the state's concerns in a letter to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson.
The EPA intends to reach a final decision on perchlorate by December, but Curry said the scientific model that the federal agency used to support its decision has not been fully reviewed or vetted by outside scientists.
“We are concerned that EPA is rushing to a decision on perchlorate without sufficient consideration in the closing days of the current administration,” Curry said. “EPA's decision is driven by politics and reducing cleanup requirements for the military rather than protection of public health based on science.”
The Environment Department said most perchlorate contamination in drinking water across the country stems from improper disposal by rocket test sites, military bases and chemical plants.
The department said the contaminant has been detected in drinking water systems and monitoring wells across the state — including at Cannon Air Force Base, the Melrose Bombing Range, Kirtland Air Force Base, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, White Sands Missile Range and Holloman Air Force Base.
No national safety standard exists for perchlorate levels in drinking water. But Curry contends that federal law requires the EPA to regulate a contaminant when it occurs in drinking water or when it's likely to occur in drinking water at a frequency and at levels that pose a public health concern.
Curry argues in his letter that EPA, in making its preliminary decision, underestimated the number of people whose health could be affected.
“EPA effectively takes a snapshot of perchlorate exposure at one instant in time,” Curry wrote. “EPA does not take into account the millions of women who will become pregnant and who could be exposed to perchlorate above the (health reference level) in future months, years and decades.” Curry also argued that EPA's failure to account for future health effects is contrary to the federal Safe Drinking Water Act.