[CPEO-MEF] PERCHLORATE: EPA Proposes weakened standard

[Lenny Siegel <Lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

The EPA’s Proposed Tap Water Standard for Rocket Fuel Perchlorate Threatens Millions
The agency's proposal to set the health goal and standard for perchlorate at 20 ppb will not adequately protect public health.

Erik Olson
Natural Resources Defense Council
March 12, 2026

On January 6, 2026, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) quietly proposed a national drinking water standard for the rocket fuel perchlorate after a court struck down the agency’s earlier effort to avoid issuing these protections. In issuing the standard, the agency griped that it didn’t think this was necessary, but that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit had ordered it to do so in a case brought by NRDC. On March 9, 2026, NRDC submitted detailed scientific and legal comments on the EPA’s unlawfully weak proposal, which are summarized below.

…

Unfortunately, the EPA’s proposal will threaten the health of millions of Americans. The agency proposed an extremely unprotective maximum contaminant level goal (MCLG or “health goal”) for perchlorate of 20 parts per billion (ppb), which falls far short of the EPA’s legal obligation under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) to set the target at “the level at which no known or anticipated adverse effects on the health of persons occurs and which allows an adequate margin of safety.” The EPA’s own documents and numerous published studies and state analyses show that perchlorate harms developing fetuses and children at levels well below this level. The agency’s proposal would also set an extraordinarily weak maximum contaminant level (MCL) at 20 ppb, or in the alternative, at shocking levels of 40 or 80 ppb. This violates the SDWA’s mandate for the EPA to set the MCL as close to a scientifically sound and protective health goal as feasible. 

...

For the entire blog, see
https://www.nrdc.org/media/epas-proposed-tap-water-standard-rocket-fuel-perchlorate-threatens-millions

—

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
A project of the Pacific Studies Center
LSiegel@cpeo.org
P.O. Box 998, Mountain View, CA 94042
Voice/Fax: 650-961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org
Author: DISTURBING THE WAR: The Inside Story of the Movement to Get Stanford University out of Southeast Asia - 1965–1975 (See http://a3mreunion.org)




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