EPA Eyes Perchlorate SDWA Suit Settlement, Seeks Input On Risk Model

摘要

EPA and environmentalists have reached an undisclosed tentative settlement in a lawsuit claiming the agency has missed Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) deadlines for a perchlorate drinking water standard, while EPA is also floating for peer review and public comment the risk model that it will use to inform such a standard. The two actions signal that EPA is inching closer to the Natural Resources Defense Council's (NRDC) long-running push for the agency to regulate the rocket fuel ingredient perchlorate under the drinking water law. It follows a federal district court judge's Sept. 19 finding that the agency missed a two-year deadline under SDWA for issuing a proposed maximum contaminant level (MCL) goal and drinking water regulation for the substance.