Excerpt from: EHS Industry Solutions
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| March 29, 2006 | | Defense contractors, federal agencies accused of drinking water perchlorate chemical cover-up | Just when I was touting the benefits of drinking tap water, I find out the supplies of 20 million people's drinking water in Southern California could be contaminated with perchlorate. Yesterday, a California federal judge ordered the Pentagon, the EPA, and the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to release information to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) that would reveal these agencies conspired with with defense contracts to avoid cleaning up perchlorate. Perchlorate is a compound used in rocket and missile fuel and when ingested, is known to interfere with thyroid hormone uptake, and cause harmful neurological affects in infants and fetuses.
Over the years, manufacturers have been improperly disposing of perchlorate, which has now leaked into the Colorado River, a major source of drinking water for Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and northern Arizona. According to the NRDC Senior Attorney Erik D. Olson, "It appears that the White House and Pentagon have joined forces with a handful of defense contractors to stop the EPA from doing its job. They want the EPA out of the business of protecting the public from this dangerous tap water toxin because it would cost the Pentagon and industry polluters millions of dollars to clean it up."
Which reminds me - I need to buy a new Brita water filter. by
Erin Swanson
ESwanson@enviance.com | | |
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