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Dingell Joins Colleagues in Introducing the "Get Arsenic Out of Our Drinking Water Act" Washington, D.C. – Two weeks ago the Bush Administration stunned millions of concerned Americans when it proposed to forgo updating the antiquated and unhealthy safe drinking water for arsenic standard from 50 parts per billion (ppb) to 10ppb. Congressmen John D. Dingell, Ranking Member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce and one of the authors of the landmark Safe Drinking Water Act, today joined his colleagues in introducing the "Get Arsenic Out of Our Drinking Water Act," that will prevent the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from revoking the new arsenic standard. "The Administration’s proposal to not implement the new standard of 10 ppb for arsenic in drinking water is an outrageous and foolish idea that is questionable at best and illegal at worst," Dingell said. "We have fought long and hard to ensure that Americans have access to safe, clean, drinking water and are not going to back down from providing these crucial protections just because special interest groups are calling in their chits. It is time to get special interests out of setting health standards and arsenic out of our water." In January, the EPA ordered that arsenic levels be reduced to 10 ppb. EPA took this action in response to a National Academy of Sciences report that recommended that the 1942 standard of 50 ppb be reduced "as promptly as possible." The Academy determined that arsenic is an extremely potent carcinogen that causes bladder, lung, and skin cancer, and may cause kidney and liver cancer, birth defects and reproductive problems. By adopting this updated standard, the United States joined the World Health Organization and all of Europe in having an arsenic standard that will protect the public’s health. The bill codifies the 10 ppb standard so that EPA will not have the authority to revoke it and will also double the existing Revolving Loan Fund authorization to $2 billion annually to assist public water systems in meeting drinking water standards.
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