http://www.yourlawyer.com/topics/overview/perchlorate Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:56:41 -0800 pixel-app en http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/16363 Fri, 03 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/16363 Perchlorate has been linked to thyroid disease.

USA Today reported that a study of 15 powdered infant formulas revealed perchlorate contamination with cow’s milk formula and lactose-based formula containing higher levels than soy-based; lactose-free; and so-called “elemental” formulas, which contain synthetically manufactured amino acids for babies unable to digest other formulas.  According to a report in USA Today,  brand names of the baby formula tested were not released by the CDC.

Years ago, the military and missile makers dumped perchlorate into the ground where it has since spread into wells and rivers nationwide.  According to a prior SFGate piece, perchlorate contamination can be found in at least 35 states and 153 public water system.  Worse, pointed out the Boston Phoenix, also from a prior piece, the former Bush Administration blocked a multi-year Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) initiative to limit perchlorate in the nation’s drinking water.

Perchlorate is one of a group of toxins called endocrine disrupters, which can alter hormonal balances and impede human reproduction and development.  Although the EPA has said that based on laboratory and epidemiological studies, perchlorate is dangerous in drinking water at levels above one part per billion (ppb); at the national level, it had been looking into formally determining that setting a perchlorate standard in drinking water was unnecessary.  According to USA Today, the new administrator for the EPA—Lisa Jackson—has reportedly pledged to act quickly to address and reduce the toxin’s contamination in drinking water.

The baby formula studied was mixed with perchlorate-free water, according to the research, which was published in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology, last month.  The Associate Press (AP) pointed out that if the formula were to be mixed with perchlorate-contaminated water, babies would likely receive formula exceeding what is currently deemed to be safe levels of the poison; the study is receiving renewed attention due to an Environmental Working Group press release issued yesterday on the CDC study.  Study authors said infants should be fed a diet containing sufficient iodine, which is known to offset some of the toxin’s effects, reported USA Today.  The authors also called for a study to measure perchlorate levels in infants to determine exposure rates.

The EPA had long ignored the need to remove perchlorate from public water supplies; however, it has since announced it is reevaluating its original determination and has said that its initial report should have used a cumulative risk assessment for perchlorate, among other chemicals, and should have also looked at iodine in the American diet.  In other words, the EPA erred in its original reporting.

The AP reported that earlier this year, the EPA said it was considering setting new perchlorate limits for drinking water, with a few states setting their own limits.  Meanwhile, said the AP, the EPA analyzed 4,000 public water supplies, which serve in excess of 10,000 people each, and found that about 160 measured with detectable perchlorate levels and 31 measured with levels exceeding the new safety levels being looked at by the EPA.

]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/15779 Fri, 02 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/15779 perchlorate—a toxic rocket-fuel ingredient—from public water supplies.  Now, according to a recently released EPA letter written by its Deputy Inspector General, Bill A. Roderick, it seems that the EPA is reevaluating its original determination and has said that its initial report should have used a cumulative risk assessment for perchlorate, among other chemicals and should have also looked at iodine in the American diet.  In other words, the EPA erred in its original reporting.

Years ago, the military and missile makers dumped perchlorate into the ground where it has since spread into wells and rivers nationwide, but, according to the DPA, it was okay to leave the poison in the nation’s water, reported the SFGate.  Worse, points out the Boston Phoenix, the Bush Administration blocked a multi-year EPA initiative to limit perchlorate in the nation’s drinking water.  Most perchlorate “plumes” in the United States range between four and 100 ppb.  To date, the EPA has identified 75 such plumes in 22 states, including Arizona, Texas, Nebraska, Iowa, New York, Maryland, Massachusetts, and California; defense-industry dumping is suspected in nearly all these cases.  The SFGate reported that perchlorate contamination can be found in at least 35 states and 153 public water system.

Perchlorate is one of a group of toxins called endocrine disrupters, which can alter hormonal balances and impede human reproduction and development.  Although the EPA has said that based on laboratory and epidemiological studies, perchlorate is dangerous in drinking water at levels above one part per billion (ppb), at the national level, it is closing in on formally determining that setting a perchlorate standard in drinking water is not necessary.

The EPA says it will take hundreds of years and cost several billion dollars to clean up the plumes and in September said that setting perchlorate limits would not result in a "meaningful opportunity for health risk reduction," quoted the SFGate, pointing out that the government seemed to be more concerned about perchlorate clean-up costs over human safety.  Also, the government stopped EPA activities after listening to key members in industry—namely, Lockheed Martin and Aerojet—which clamed perchlorate risks were overstated, said the SFGate.

The EPA’s negligence has far-flung effects.  Perchlorate inteferes with thyroid gland processes, how iodide is utilized, and with mental and physical development in fetuses and infants.  And, according to the Redlands Daily Facts and the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, a variety of emerging studies—including one from 2006 by the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)—concluded that even low perchlorate levels can affect thyroid hormone levels in women.  The Redlands Daily Facts and the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin are both reporting that the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment will review the public health goal for perchlorate in 2009, according to an email sent by Sam Delson, the office's deputy director for external and legislative affairs.  This could lead to setting a new drinking water standard for the toxin, WaterTechOnline.com noted.

]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/15203 Wed, 24 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/15203 perchlorate, was dumped in the ground by military and missile-makers years ago and it has since spread from bases and factories, tainting wells and rivers across the country.  Now, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is saying that it is not necessary to remove perchlorate from the nation’s water.  Perchlorate is an ingredient in rocket fuel.

Perchlorates are salts originating from perchloric acid that occur naturally and through manufacturing.  The chemicals are an oxidizer in rocket fuel and explosives, and can be found in airbags and fireworks.  Perchlorates are widely used in the pyrotechnics industry; in solid rocket fuel; and in oxygen candles aboard spacecraft, submarines, and other situations in which additional oxygen supplies are needed.

The EPA’s negligence has produced a variety of confirmed dangers.  For instance, perchlorates harm human thyroid glands by interfering with the iodide uptake into the thyroid gland.  The thyroid helps regulate the body’s metabolism by releasing hormones in adults and ensures proper development in children.  Perchlorates have also been found to interfere with mental and physical development in fetuses and infants and recent research reveals an inhibition of iodide uptake in the thyroids of women at much lower levels, attainable from normally contaminated water and milk.

Despite confirmation about perchlorate toxicity to humans and the environment, the EPA says setting limits on perchlorate won't bring about a "meaningful opportunity for health risk reduction," thus there is no need for action.  Many feel that while years of inaction by federal policymakers may be over, the problem ended with the wrong result.  Apparently, the Pentagon was concerned about the costs involved with cleanup, which is estimated to run in the billions of dollars.  Also, private concerns such as Lockheed Martin and Aerojet claim the risks presented by perchlorates are overrated and urged the White House to stop the EPA’s activities.

Meanwhile, Senator Barbara Boxer—California-Democrat—head of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, has drafted and is completing an opposition to the EPA decision.  It is also hoped that the incoming president may see the perchlorate contamination as a problem in need of a solution.

Perchlorate contamination exists in some 35 states, where it has tainted 153 public water systems and, in 2004, perchlorate was also found in cow's milk in those areas with an average level of 1.3 parts per billion (ppb or µg/L).  It is believed that the perchlorates entered the cows’ systems through feeding on crops that had exposure to water containing the toxin.  According to the Impact Groundwater Study Program perchlorates were detected in levels as high as five µg/L in Massachusetts, which is well over that state’s regulation of two µg/L.

The widespread contamination, coupled with the government’s inaction and lack of concern, has prompted California—which enacted a mandate that water agencies shut down wells found to be tainted with high levels of perchlorates—to pass its own standards and has led to much criticism by advocates who feel the government has put public safety behind financial concerns and cover-ups.


]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/11810 Thu, 01 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/11810
Three toxic chemicals have been found in the wells west of Spokane near Riverside State Park, one a common military engine degreaser and the other two typically found in rockets such as those in Nike anti-aircraft guided missiles, Environmental Protection Agency officials said.

"The combination of these three chemicals is fairly unique," an EPA remedial project manager, Harry Craig, told The Spokesman-Review. "The only places that I've seen that is at rocket motor facilities" in California and at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal in Colorado.

The agency reported the findings May 16 to the Army Corps of Engineers, which is responsible for the cleanup of military pollution. Corps spokesman Steve Cosgrove told the newspaper Wednesday a decision on cleanup is likely months away.

"The sample areas EPA is looking at are quite a ways away (from the Nike site) and scattered around," Cosgrove added. "At this point we don't have sufficient information."

The degreaser could have come from the cleaning of agricultural machinery and the other chemicals from fertilizer, he said.

Craig, however, countered that it was unlikely at least two of the chemicals would have been used in agriculture in dryland farming of the kind practiced by Hutterites, a deeply religious people who live a communal lifestyle with some modern conveniences. Hutterite beliefs stem from the same Anabaptist origins as those of the Amish and Mennonites.

Nike missiles were installed in the mid-1950s as the last line of defense against a potential bomber attack on targets such as Fairchild Air Force Base, also west of Spokane, or the Hanford nuclear reservation north of the Tri-Cities in southcentral Washington.

As the bomber threat subsided with the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles, the Nikes were removed by 1966.

The installation at Deep Creek, in an alignment typical for the Nike, included a launch area where the missiles were kept in underground magazine, and a control and firing center with radar and computer systems within 3 1/2 miles.

EPA began testing two years ago at a well once owned by the military between the two sites, and results released last year showed the presence of trichloroethylene, or TCE, a solvent linked to liver, kidney and lung cancer.

Subsequent testing found perchlorate, a salt used as a primary ingredient in solid rocket fuel, in nearby 19 wells, including five in which investigators also found N-nitrosodimethylamine, or NDMA, an igniter for rocket fuel, and two with TCE.

TCE levels were as high as 210 parts per billion, compared with EPA's "maximum contaminate level" of 5 parts per billion.

NDMA, considered much more toxic and suspected of causing cancer, was found at levels as high as 2.6 parts per trillion. EPA has not established a maximum level considered safe for NDMA, but the agency has set a tentative cleanup goal of 1.3 parts per trillion.

Perchlorate, which can disrupt thyroid function and the central nervous systems of fetuses and infants and also is suspected in some forms of cancer, registered up to 2.1 parts per billion, below the preliminary remediation goal of 3.6 parts per billion.

Mike LaScuola, a Spokane Regional Health District environmental health specialist who was assigned to discuss the findings with the affected families, said the long-term health risks appear to be low at those levels.

"What we are trying to tell folks is, `We found this in your water. We don't know how long it's been there. It's not an immediate health risk," LaScuola said.

Even so, filter systems have been installed at wells contaminated with TCE, said Renee Dagseth, an EPA community involvement coordinator.]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/11488 Tue, 14 Mar 2006 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/11488
Perchlorate, a rocket fuel ingredient, is used in road flares, fireworks and military munitions. The chemical has been found in dozens of states, and was first detected in Massachusetts in 2002 in the aquifer under the Massachusetts Military Reservation on Cape Cod.

Perchlorate can interfere with the production of thyroid hormones, which are needed for pre- and postnatal growth and development.

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection's proposed standard would require responsible parties to clean up perchlorate contamination if the chemical is found in drinking water at a concentration of two parts per billion or more, a level the agency said was based on a review of scientific data. The regulation also would require regular testing for perchlorate in all public water systems.

The agency scheduled six public hearings on the proposed standards from April 10 through April 27 at locations statewide.

The proposal would give Massachusetts the first perchlorate cleanup and drinking water standards in the nation, the state agency said.

"Perchlorate is an emerging contaminant that has raised a red flag for environmental agencies and public health officials across the country," Stephen Pritchard, the state's environmental affairs secretary, said in a news release.

The federal government currently has no standard to regulate perchlorate levels in drinking water, although some members of California's congressional delegation recently urged that such a standard be adopted.

Tests conducted after Massachusetts required all drinking water systems to test for perchlorate in 2004 found perchlorate above an interim state advisory level at 10 sites: Chesterfield, Southbridge, Hadley, Williamstown, Boxborough, Millbury, Westford, Boxford, Tewksbury and Westport.]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/11449 Sun, 05 Mar 2006 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/11449
Through the years, EWG has been in the forefront of the fight against dangerous toxins unleashed on the environment by various industries.

The group has been particularly involved with efforts to ban or significantly restrict such toxins and contaminates as: PFOA (Teflon-related chemical); Zonyl; asbestos; arsenic-treated wood; dangerous pesticides; potentially dangerous ingredients in cosmetics; MTBE; mercury; and perchlorate.

On July 14, 2005, EWG published its comprehensive and critically acclaimed “benchmark investigation of industrial chemicals, pollutants and pesticides in umbilical cord blood.” (http://www.ewg.org/reports/bodyburden2/execsumm.php).

Thus, the organization’s concern over what is a looming environmental and public health crisis involving perchlorate contamination deserves to be disseminated in as broad a manner as possible. To that end, and as a public service, newsinferno.com is reproducing the EFG’s call for the immediate release of an alarming study involving that extremely dangerous toxic chemical.

(http://www.ewg.org/issues/perchlorate/20060303/index.php)

“WASHINGTON, March 3 - Following a published report that the Bush Administration is holding up a study that shows most Americans carry a toxic rocket fuel chemical in their bodies at levels close to federal safety limits, Environmental Working Group (EWG) is calling for the immediate release of the study so EPA and state agencies can take steps to protect the public.

Risk Policy Report, an independent newsletter, reported Feb. 28 that the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy is pressuring the Centers for Disease Control to delay the release of a study that tested for perchlorate in human blood samples from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). An EPA source told the newsletter that CDC has found levels of perchlorate that "leave no margin of safety" for the public, compared to EPA's current risk limit.

Perchlorate, the explosive ingredient in solid rocket fuel, has contaminated drinking water and soil in at least 35 states, with most of the known contamination coming from military bases and defense contractors. Tests by EWG, academic scientists in Texas and Arizona, state officials in California and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have found perchlorate in milk, produce and many other foods and animal feed crops from coast to coast. Perchlorate is a thyroid toxin, and animal tests show that even small amounts can disrupt normal growth and development in fetuses, infants and children.

The NHANES study is a followup to a CDC study last year that found perchlorate in the urine of every one of 61 Atlanta residents tested, even though concentrations of perchlorate in the city's drinking water are very low. Last year, scientists at Texas Tech University also found perchlorate in every sample of human milk from 36 mothers.

In a letter to Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the CDC, EWG Senior Vice President Richard Wiles said the results of the study of Atlanta residents "indicate that food is likely a major source of perchlorate exposure, and that perchlorate exposure is likely to be widespread in the general population."

Although the EPA has no timetable for developing a national drinking water standard for perchlorate, both Massachusetts and California are moving forward with their own safety standards. The proposed standards 1 part per billion in Massachusetts and 6 ppb in California are far below EPA's recently adopted risk limit of 24.5 ppb, which is a level used as a guidance for cleaning up perchlorate- contaminated sites. When the EPA announced the risk limit, it acknowledged the need for "national guidance on relative source contribution" exactly the information the NHANES data could provide.

"In the absence of national safety standards, the CDC should not be sitting on data so clearly needed to protect the public from a chemical that appears to be widespread in drinking water and food," wrote Wiles. "The NHANES perchlorate data should be released immediately."
EWG sent the following letter to the CDC director on March 2.

Dr. Julie Gerberding, Director
Centers for Disease Control
1600 Clifton Road, NE
Atlanta, GA 30333

Dear Dr. Gerberding:

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) is a not-for-profit watchdog organization that works to protect environmental and public health as well as scientific integrity. Since 2000, we have extensively studied perchlorate contamination of the nation's food and drinking water. We have documented widespread water and soil contamination, conducted groundbreaking tests that found perchlorate in supermarket produce and milk, and have repeatedly called on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set a national drinking water standard that fully protects fetuses, children and other sensitive populations, and adequately considers all potential sources of exposure.

We were awaiting with great interest the results of CDC's project to analyze National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) samples for perchlorate. As the first phase of that work, CDC tested for perchlorate in the urine of 61 Atlanta residents. The results, published last year in Analytical Chemistry, found perchlorate in the urine of each person tested, even though concentrations of perchlorate in the city's drinking water are very low (about 0.2 parts per billion). These findings are important because they indicate that food is likely a major source of perchlorate exposure, and that perchlorate exposure is likely to be widespread in the general population.

The Atlanta tests were not the only recent signs that prompt action is called for to protect the public. Last year, scientists at Texas Tech University reported finding perchlorate in human milk from 36 mothers at levels up to 92 parts per billion. In January, the EPA issued a new perchlorate cleanup guidance instructing risk assessors to base exposure "contributions from non-water sources" on "site-specific data until further national guidance on relative source contribution is developed." The EPA, state environmental agencies and the public need more information on perchlorate exposure levels exactly the data that CDC's NHANES study was designed to provide.

Consequently, we were alarmed and dismayed to read in Risk Policy Report (Feb. 28) the article "Stalled CDC Study Shows Human Perchlorate Levels Near EPA Safety Limits:"

dmark biomonitoring research conducted by scientists at the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) that shows most Americans carry perchlorate in their bodies at levels close to safety limits set by EPA, according to EPA and other government health officials.

The article reports that the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy has pressured the CDC to delaying its release of the NHANES perchlorate study. The study is said to have been completed last fall, and according to an unnamed Food and Drug Administration official, the exposure levels found in the study are close to EPA's current risk limit of 24.5 parts per billion perchlorate in drinking water. This EPA risk limit, which is not an enforceable safety standard, is of course well above the 1 ppb level that is being considered by Massachusetts and the 6 ppb Public Health Goal adopted by California. This is all the more troubling if, as an EPA source told Risk Policy Report, "EPA's current perchlorate policies leave no margin of safety" for the public.

This is unacceptable. In the absence of national safety standards, the CDC should not be sitting on data so clearly needed to protect the public from a chemical that appears to be widespread in drinking water and food. The NHANES perchlorate data should be released immediately.

Thank you for your attention to this important matter.
Sincerely,
Richard Wiles, Senior Vice President
Environmental Working Group]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/9644 Sun, 24 Apr 2005 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/9644
In Rialto, concern spread along with the underground plume of water that carries the chemical from barren land that once housed World War II munitions, Cold War weapons-makers and, now, fireworks warehouses and a dump.

As one city well after another tested positive for perchlorate; six of the city's 13 wells in all projected cleanup costs ballooned to more than double Rialto's $40 million annual budget. The town sued the Defense Department and dozens of other suspected polluters, pleaded with residents to conserve water and hiked water rates 65 percent.

Officials and townspeople, meanwhile, want to know just how hazardous perchlorate is. High amounts can be dangerous the chemical can interrupt the production of thyroid hormones, which are needed for pre-and postnatal development. But how much exposure should be permissible sparks debate in governmental and scientific circles.

The conclusion of city leaders: Piping any amount of perchlorate into homes posed an unacceptable gamble.

Rialto is a case study of what can happen when a community refuses to take that risk.

A majority black and Latino town of 98,000, Rialto has palm-dotted streets with small single-family homes, its downtown a mix of old-time churches, homes, businesses and strip malls. Residents work in manufacturing or retail jobs, some slogging through a 50-mile commute west into Los Angeles.

The source of Rialto's perchlorate problem is a 2,800-acre plot north of downtown, once isolated but now surrounded by new homes, notes Bill Hunt, a geologist consulting for the city.

The military used the site as a pit stop for weapons bound for the Port of Los Angeles and then the Pacific theater in World War II. Later, Cold War defense contractors built, tested and stored rockets and munitions. Then came the fireworks industry and the county dump.

With each successive tenant, city officials believe, came growing deposits of perchlorate, an oxidant used in fireworks and road flares and as an accelerant in rocket fuel.

"We'll probably never know definitively who did what and how much," says Hunt.

What the city does know is that 400 feet below ground begins a 7-mile plume of perchlorate that's polluting Rialto's aquifer, as well as groundwater drawn by residents of other nearby communities.

Standard filtering doesn't work on perchlorate, so the town has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in equipment that uses a resin to rid water of perchlorate molecules. The water rate increases paid for those systems on two of the six contaminated wells the others remain shut and for the town's legal fight against the Pentagon, San Bernardino County and a host of corporations large and small, from General Dynamics to Pyro Spectaculars Inc.

"The city is trying to do their best, but by going after the polluters they've raised the water bills," said former Rialto resident Jan Misquez, who now lives in neighboring San Bernardino. "Us taxpayers are having to foot the bill."

None of the 42 defendants has admitted liability and some of the companies no longer exist, leaving the city to battle insurance companies with only paper connections to the events of decades ago.

Perchlorate was little-known before 1997, when tests were developed that could detect it at lower levels than before. Soon afterward, the chemical was discovered in Rialto and found to be widespread around military bases and defense manufacturing sites.

In February, the EPA issued a safety standard that any amount of perchlorate less than 24.5 parts per billion in drinking water was safe. That was much higher than the 6 parts per billion California set as a public health goal, and higher still than EPA's original draft standard of 1 part per billion, a proposal environmentalists embraced.

Pentagon officials, who could face billions in cleanup costs, criticized the 1-part-per-billion standard, instead favoring 200 parts per billion. A Pentagon spokesman declined comment for this story.

Thus far no state has issued a final drinking water regulation, and the EPA, under pressure from both sides, hasn't decided whether it will take such a step. A regulation would force cleanup, while the agency's safety standard offers only its guidance on exposure levels.

With Rialto's detections ranging as high as 88 parts per billion, city officials decided to shut down any well where perchlorate was found.

"Until there's more clarity on what is the safe amount of perchlorate for the human body to ingest, our council has chosen not to serve any amount," said City Attorney Bob Owen. "We can go online right now and find a Web site saying, 'Do you live in Rialto? Have you drunk water in Rialto? And if you have, join our group, we're going to all sue them.'"

No lawsuit has been filed, said Owen, who credits in part the town's decision to adhere to a zero-tolerance standard, unlike some other municipalities.

So far, Rialto has also managed to avoid any water shutoffs, thanks to a combination of conservation, recycling wastewater for non-drinking uses and tapping supplies from neighboring water districts on high-demand days.

Town officials believe the only long-term solution is forcing polluters to fund a cleanup.

"For us it's critical," said Rialto's water superintendent, Peter Fox. "We just don't have other water available to us."]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/9397 Wed, 23 Feb 2005 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/9397
This first study in breast milk of perchlorate, a chemical that interferes with the thyroid, indicates that the majority of breast-feeding infants would be exceeding the safe daily dose set by the National Academy of Sciences.

The peer-reviewed data published Tuesday in the journal Environmental Science & Technology reported perchlorate in 36 milk samples from women in 18 states and in all but one of 47 cow milk samples from 11 states.

The average level in breast milk was 10.5 parts per billion, with a high of 92 ppb, while the average in cow's milk was 2 ppb with a high of 11 ppb.

Other studies of cow's milk including by Texas Tech and by the Food and Drug Administration have found perchlorate in cow's milk from 5 to 6 ppb. The levels vary depending on the cow's diet at different times of the year.

Perchlorate, a salt, can impair a person's ability to take up iodide, a form of iodine and the building block of thyroid hormones that control brain development. High levels of perchlorate in the body also may reduce the amount of iodide in breast milk.

"Perchlorate is not a toxic metal like mercury or lead,'' said chemist Purnendu K. Dasgupta, an author. "Its only effect is to deprive the human body of iodide."

The need for iodide is particularly important for infants, Dasgupta said. "The infant has only a 24-hour store of iodide, compared to an adult, who has enough to make thyroid hormone for months. If you inhibit an infant's iodide in a significant manner for any significant length of time, you're going to cause problems.''

The nutritional importance of iodine for pregnant and nursing women is well documented. Physicians recommend certain levels in supplements and such foods as iodized salt, kelp, seaweed and crustaceans and other seafood.

Last week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency adopted a safety dose for perchlorate set by the National Academy of Sciences then approved a "drinking water equivalent level'' of 24 ppb.

That, however, is not an enforceable standard, and some environmental groups criticized the agency's number, saying it was geared to protect a 156 pound person drinking 2 liters of water a day and not to protect infants and children. Also, the number considers exposure to perchlorate only from drinking water and doesn't take into account exposure from food.

The EPA and the state of California have not set enforceable drinking water standards for perchlorate. California set a public health goal of 6 ppb last year, which the state Department of Health Services will consider when developing a drinking-water standard within the year.

Environmentalists immediately responded to the new study by saying it should force the federal EPA to adopt a drinking-water standard for perchlorate and one that is strict enough to protect infants. They want a standard of 1 ppb.

Renee Sharp, a biologist in Oakland with Environmental Working Group, which does research into contaminants in consumer products and food, called the study "highly significant because it shows that perchlorate is pervasive in women's breast milk, often at high levels.''

The federal and state regulators saw the study results for the first time Tuesday.

Rich Hood, director of the EPA's national press office in Washington, D.C. , said, "We're not going to be able to comment on the Texas Tech study. The EPA scientists and researchers are looking at the study. They want to determine what our appropriate response ought to be.''

In Sacramento, Allan Hirsch, a spokesman for the state EPA, said, "We need to sit down and look at it.''

The strictness of future standards could force cleanups at toxic sites nationwide. Sources of perchlorate include rocket fuel from military and industrial plants, some nitrate fertilizers and natural rock deposits.

Perchlorate has been found in the Colorado River and other water bodies, drinking-water supplies, cow's milk, bottled water, and lettuce and other vegetables nationwide by Texas Tech, the FDA and the Environmental Working Group. Women probably get perchlorate in their bodies from consuming contaminated food and water.

Cows have lower levels of perchlorate in their milk than women because they produce six times more milk for the food they eat. The amount of milk dilutes the contaminant, scientists say.]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/9371 Fri, 18 Feb 2005 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/9371
The Environmental Protection Agency's new limit for what it considers a safe exposure level will be used in guiding Superfund cleanups and determining whether the agency should go a step further and regulate perchlorate as a drinking water contaminant.

The limit, which translates to 24.5 parts per billion in drinking water, is the same level recommended by the National Academy of Sciences in January but higher than what EPA proposed two years ago.

Perchlorate is a chemical found in nature, but the academy said its presence in the environment is mainly from its use in rocket fuels, fireworks and explosives. It has been linked to thyroid ailments, and is considered particularly dangerous to children.

"This reference dose is protective for all populations including the most sensitive," EPA spokeswoman Cynthia Bergman said.

The EPA issued a preliminary recommendation two years ago for an exposure level that translated into 1 part per billion. The Pentagon had criticized that EPA standard as too stringent.

Erik Olson, an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the exposure level the EPA considers safe is too lenient for protecting those most vulnerable infants and pregnant women.

If used as a benchmark for cleaning up Superfund and military sites, Olson said, the standard "really puts potentially hundreds of thousands if not millions at risk."

States and local governments have been trying to get defense contractors and the Pentagon to pay for the huge cleanup costs of removing the chemical from groundwater. California and Massachusetts have proposed limits on perchlorate contamination far more restrictive than the level EPA chose.

But even with its own standard, California could still have higher levels of perchlorate contamination from the Colorado River that comes from a former rocket fuel plant in Nevada.]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/8864 Thu, 04 Nov 2004 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/8864
The DEP tested 25 wells an area around Old County Road and Main Road. The residents on Old County Road were west of Route 88. Theresa Barao of the state Department of Environmental Protection said the highest reading was 5.62 parts per billion in one well.

The DEP is testing the private wells to try to determine the source of the perchlorate, which was detected in two high school wells last spring. The level was higher than allowable at that point in only one of the high school wells. Since then, students and staff have been drinking bottled water and using bottled water to wash.

The high-risk group includes pregnant women, children under 12 and people with untreated hypothyroidism.

Ms. Barao said the DEP was testing private wells to help determine the source of the perchlorate. Perchlorate is an organic chemical widely used as an oxidizer in solid propellants for rockets, missiles and fireworks.

"The main thing is to find the source, to look at the distribution and see how it relates to the aquifer," Ms. Barao said.

Because there is bedrock in town land in this area, the perchlorate is not moving straight down, she said.

"That's part of what we're looking at. There's bedrock there. Water in bedrock moves rather uniquely, not straight down. The geology is what will be looked at in the review, the geology and the samples. That's all taken into account."

The DEP plans to establish a definite limit for perchlorate in January 2005. Until then, it has established the 1.0 ppb limit for public buildings.

Superintendent Dr. Linda Galton said last week that in a test on Sept. 25, the perchlorate level for well #1 was 1.9 parts per billion. That makes well #1 suddenly almost twice the 1.0 level deemed safe. Last May, well #1 tested at 0.38 ppb, well below the risk level. At that time, well #2 was at 1.6 ppb. On Sept. 25, well #2 levels were 1.3 ppb.

Dr. Galton recommended against putting an expensive filter system in to treat the perchlorate until the DEP sets establishes a definite unsafe level in January 2005. Other states have set much higher acceptable levels, the superintendent said.

In the meantime, students and staff will continue to drink bottled water. The high school will use a filtering system in the cafeteria. The superintendent is still negotiating a price for the filter.

This is the first year the state environmental agency began testing for perchlorate in public buildings. The health effects of perchlorate are similar to iodine. They include impaired brain development and lower IQ as well as impairment in physical development in children. Other effects of iodine deficiency include signs and symptoms of hypothyroidism, enlargement of the thyroid gland and possibly thyroid tumors.

None of the levels of perchlorate found so far are even close to the level for the normal population. ]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/8675 Fri, 15 Oct 2004 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/8675
The test results, received by the health system on Wednesday from Berkshire Enviro-Labs, showed low levels of perchlorate contamination in the wells with a level of 0.49 parts per billion.

All previous quarterly tests of the wells showed no presence of perchlorate.

In May, perchlorate levels in well water at Mount Greylock Regional High School were found to exceed one part per billion, with 5.23 and 5.05 parts per billion of the chemical in the south well, near the cafeteria, and 1.14 and 1.03 parts per billion in the north well.

The state Department of Environmental Protection uses a 1.0 parts per billion level as its basis for the need to notify the public.

"It's a level that doesn't require any action on our part, but we are choosing to do several things," said Paul Hopkins, spokesman for the health system.

The water will be tested again to confirm the result, and the people who live and work at Sweet Brook and Sweetwood have been notified of the result, he said.

Hopkins said the discovery of perchlorate in Sweet Brook and Sweetwood's wells reinforces the need for the health system to work collaboratively with Mount Greylock Regional, the town of Williamstown and the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute "to move quickly toward a public water supply solution."

In a prepared statement, Northern Berkshire Health Systems' CEO John C. J. Cronin said that according to federal and state standards, the water is safe to drink.

Perchlorate is both a naturally occurring and man-made chemical. Exposure to perchlorate has been found to be a possible cause of thyroid disease, and is commonly used in fireworks, munitions and rocket fuel.

Levels over one part per billion can be harmful to "sensitive populations," such as pregnant women, children and people who have health problems or compromised thyroid conditions, while levels of 18 parts per million are considered a health risk for the general population.]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/8676 Thu, 30 Sep 2004 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/8676
The contaminant, perchlorate, is an oxidizer that enhances the burning process, used primarily in solid rocket fuel and blasting agents.

According to the state Department of Environmental Protection, the chemical has been found in all three wells serving the Harvard Ridge condominiums, which includes the pool club. The first well was closed in early September, according to DEP spokesman Edmund Coletta. The second was closed Sept. 22.

"A confirmatory test came back at over 1,000 parts per billion," he said.

Residents of the condo were warned to avoid drinking the water. The pool was closed because people, particularly children, tend to swallow water while they are swimming, according to Boxborough Board of Health Secretary Mary Cobleigh.

"It's the same situation," Coletta said. "The water can be used, but it isn't potable. If those people need potable water, they should use bottled water."

Efforts to reach Harvard Ridge management were unsuccessful. Carol Fosdick, who runs the popular swimming program, said she's working with both the management company, from which the pool club leases its building, and the state to find a solution.

The water isn't an immediate hazard, and the pool work is being done as a precaution.

"We're getting a lot of calls from parents saying 'Oh, my God, my child was in the pool last week'," Fosdick said. "But it's not anything to worry about."

Right now, business is down to zero, the 175 children who take lesson are on hold and Fosdick is taking estimates from companies on ways to treat the water.

The state is still investigating where the perchlorate came from, but speculates it is a result of blasting done during construction in the area, Coletta said.

The numbers found in the Harvard Ridge wells are high. Warnings are tripped when there is perchlorate at one part per billion in the water.

Although there are no federal or state standards for perchlorate, the DEP advises pregnant women, infants and children up to the age of 12, and people with hypothyroidism, against consuming water that has tested more than 1 part per billion. The water is safe to drink up to 18 parts per billion for the general population.

The Harvard Ridge tests came back at 700 parts and higher, with some test numbers crested 1,000, Coletta said.

"This is a serious contamination," he said.

With the test results, Boxborough joins Tewksbury, Westford and about five other towns in Massachusetts that have tested positive for perchlorate, Coletta said.

The long-range health impacts of the chemical focus mainly on the thyroid gland, preventing it from taking in iodide, a chemical the body uses to produce thyroid hormones. These hormones are important for proper brain development in children and to maintain energy levels and metabolism in adults. Children who have low thyroid hormone levels, especially in formative years can suffer mental retardation, reduction in IQ, and have speech, movement, and hearing issues, according to the state.

The state began requiring cities and towns to test for the chemical salt after high concentrations were found at the Massachusetts military reservation on Cape Cod. This year, 700 public water systems have been tested, with about 1 percent found contaminated, he said.

Coletta would not speculate on what the contamination could mean for Boxborough water all of the town's residents are on private wells. The Harvard Ridge system, while a local well, is considered a public supply because it serves more than one dwelling. Routine tests don't pick up the presence of perchlorate, but he recommended people in the Harvard Ridge area have their water tested. The DEP Web site, www.state.ma.us/dep/ has a list of labs that can test for perchlorate. ]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/8428 Tue, 24 Aug 2004 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/8428
"I'm concerned enough that I've been buying bottled water for my kids," she said of sons Alex, 8, and Matthew, 7. "Even when they brush their teeth, I'm telling them to use bottled water."

Tests of Tewksbury water this month have found traces of perchlorate, a chemical used in rocket fuel and missiles and more commonly detected near contaminated military bases. No one knows where the chemical came from or why other towns that draw their water from the Merrimack River aren't affected. But Tewksbury is not alone in facing this uncertain threat. This year, after the state Department of Environmental Protection began requiring water suppliers to test for perchlorate, the substance turned up in drinking water in six other Massachusetts locations as well.

Perchlorate has recently emerged as a focus of debate among environmentalists, regulators, and the US Department of Defense. As more sensitive tests begin to detect the chemical in more places, regulators in Massachusetts and elsewhere are trying to decide what levels of perchlorate in the water can be considered safe.

Once known chiefly as a hazard in the areas surrounding military training areas, perchlorate is turning up in groundwater and crops in towns far from the nearest base. Last year, a national organization, the Environmental Working Group, conducted tests of supermarket produce and found perchlorate in lettuce samples grown in California and southern Arizona. This summer, the group found perchlorate in milk bought at California grocery stores. The US Food and Drug Administration is currently testing items like lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, and carrots, as well as milk and bottled water, to determine what levels of perchlorate are seeping into food.

But there is currently no state or federal standard for perchlorate in drinking water, and no agreement among states or among scientists as to what level marks a threat. Perchlorate is known to impair the function of the thyroid gland, in part by interfering with the uptake of iodide, leading to iodine deficiency. Children born to iodine-deficient mothers can have lower IQ, and iodine deficiency in children is linked to impairment to physical development, vision, and hearing. For adults, the EPA has said the chemical may be connected to thyroid tumors.

Massachusetts is trying to develop one of the nation's first limits for perchlorate in drinking water. In addition, the state is developing a cleanup standard for the hazardous waste site at the Massachusetts Military Reservation, which sits atop the aquifer that provides water for hundreds of thousands of Cape Cod residents and where levels as high as 500 parts per billion have been detected in groundwater. Perchlorate was found last year in a private Bourne well near the base, and traces were found in three public wells in 2002.

Based on a review of all the available studies on perchlorate, the state DEP has suggested that children under 12, pregnant women, and people with thyroid problems should not drink water containing more than 1 part per billion of perchlorate roughly the equivalent of a half-teaspoon in an Olympic-sized swimming pool for more than three or four weeks. For healthy adults, the suggested guideline is 18 parts per billion.

Among the Massachusetts sites that tested positive, only in Millbury, where a private water company provides service, has the perchlorate shown up higher than that proposed adult standard. Millbury is now relying on an uncontaminated well and water from neighboring municipalities, said Ed Coletta, DEP spokesman.

In testing this spring and summer, traces were also found in wells at a Boxborough condominium complex, Mount Greylock Regional and Westport high schools, and the towns of Hadley and Westford. All the sites but Tewksbury and Mount Greylock have alternative wells or sources to tap. Tewksbury, a town of about 30,000, was the only community that found perchlorate in surface water rather than groundwater. A test on Aug. 14 found 3.21 parts per billion.

In California, where perchlorate has been found in more than 300 water sources, regulators recently set the health limit at 6 parts per billion. Like Massachusetts, California is now considering setting an official limit on how much perchlorate should be allowed in drinking water.

On the federal level, the US Environmental Protection Agency's 2002 proposed safe limit of 1 part per billion was sent to the National Academy of Sciences for review after the Department of Defense, which faces billions of dollars in cleanup costs at contaminated military bases across the country, fought against it. The Academy is now scrutinizing the scientific basis for the regulators' decision, and is expected to release findings by the end of the year.

The Pentagon has said it will clean up the Massachusetts Military Reservation to the perchlorate standard that Massachusetts adopts, even if it differs from the ultimate federal limit. However, in meetings with the state Department of Environmental Protection, the Pentagon has been urging adoption of a standard no stricter than California's and has maintained that perchlorate could be safe at levels as high as 300 parts per billion, said Carol Rowan-West, director of DEP's office of research and standards.

The DEP put out an extensive report in May contrasting its work with that of California regulators, who based their perchlorate standard on a human study that examined how perchlorate inhibits iodide uptake by the thyroid gland. That study, however, looked only at healthy adults who ingested perchlorate and were monitored for 14 days; Massachusetts analysts disputed the findings, saying the study might not be applicable for children, who are more vulnerable to perchlorate's effects. The DEP also relied on a study of pregnant rats that showed perchlorate could cause developmental problems in their offspring, born and unborn, at lower levels of exposure than the human study indicated. Perchlorate is passed through the womb and also into breast milk.

As the state took steps to establish a standard for environmental cleanups, it also wanted to determine whether there was a need for a statewide drinking-water standard. DEP ordered water suppliers to begin testing water this year to better understand the level of pollution across the Commonwealth, an effort that has yielded the first full picture of the curious reach of the chemical, which is also left behind by fireworks, dynamite, and some types of fertilizer and rocket fuel.

Perchlorate contamination has been identified in at least 20 states, often on or near military bases. Until the past several years, tests couldn't detect levels of perchlorate below 4 parts per billion; now, more sophisticated tests can detect it at concentrations below 1 part per billion.

Puzzlingly, in Tewksbury, perchlorate had not shown up in testing in the spring, and tests after the Aug. 14 finding showed dropping perchlorate levels, leading the town manager, David Cressman, to speculate that something may have been dumped in the river.

"I really wish I could pinpoint it," said Cressman. "But when you look up and down the river and its tributaries, it's difficult to point a finger at any particular operation."

At the community gardens, Viens was not concerned about perchlorate in her produce; the water comes from a well. But she and others voiced suspicions about their home taps.

"I've been drinking enormous amounts of water, so it was really, really scary," said Diana Carlson, who is 35 weeks pregnant with her first child. "My doctor looked into it for me, but also said there wasn't a whole lot of research. Everybody sort of says the same thing: 'Don't worry about it, it should be fine.' "]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/8429 Sun, 22 Aug 2004 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/8429
The report by George Rice, released last week, says the contaminants have reached the river through springs within the last 60 years.

Lab officials have said the Rio Grande should be safe from contaminants from the lab for anywhere from hundreds to thousands of years, depending on where the contaminants are located.

Rice, who wrote the report after being hired by the Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety, believes these pollutants came from the lab. "I relied exclusively on samples collected by the lab and the state," he said.

The laboratory doesn't dispute that contaminants have entered the groundwater beneath its 40-square-mile property. What has been unclear is whether the waste has entered the Rio Grande.

James Rickman, a lab spokesman, said he had not read Rice's report.

"Looking at the spring data so far, the conclusion that there's a pathway of less than 100 years to the Rio Grande is in dispute and it continues to be under study," Rickman said.

For three decades, the lab has monitored groundwater on its property, trying to figure out the exact travel times of contaminants.

Except for an explosive found once at a spring in 1991, Rice said, none of the samples of concern surpassed safe drinking water or federal environmental standards.

Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety wants the lab to clean up contamination, remove all waste buried atop Pajarito Plateau, store future waste safely above ground and manage buried waste in ways that protect the Rio Grande and the aquifer beneath the plateau.

State Environment Department spokesman Jon Goldstein couldn't respond specifically to Rice's conclusions, but said his agency is also concerned about contaminants. Results from the agency's water sampling tests have led the state to believe pollutants could be migrating faster than the lab predicts, Goldstein said.

About a year ago, the lab found perchlorate in almost every area tested upstream and downstream from the lab and outside its immediate surroundings.

"We have no idea where it came from," Rickman said. The chemical is used in rocket fuels and is a byproduct of radiochemistry work, but there are other sources.

Rice said he took the complexity of perchlorate into consideration when drawing his conclusions about spring contamination.

Rickman said the lab has pinpointed the sources of high explosives, perchlorate and radionuclides and is addressing the sites with the highest risk to the environment. ]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/8430 Mon, 26 Jul 2004 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/8430
In the report sent to lawmakers, the Pentagon said it found the chemical in ground water and soil samples at closed sites in 10 states.

Perchlorate, a toxic chemical from rocket fuel and weapons production, has been linked to thyroid damage.

The amounts found ranged from 1.2 parts per billion in ground water at Fort McClellan in Alabama, to as high as 2,890 parts per billion in some samples of ground water at Fort Wingate Depot in New Mexico.

There is debate about what constitutes dangerous levels of perchlorate, but the Environmental Protection Agency's draft proposal for drinking water is one part per billion. Some but not all drinking water supplies draw on ground water.

Perchlorate has been found in drinking water supplies in 29 states and has also been found in vegetables.

The eight-page report, issued in response to a congressional mandate, was more than two months overdue. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., released a letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld Friday saying it didn't meet congressional demands.

Feinstein said the report should have addressed 74 potentially contaminated closed bases - a number contained in a General Accounting Office report from 2003.

She also complained that the Pentagon shouldn't wait for the EPA to issue a final national standard for perchlorate to develop clean-up plans. The final standard isn't expected until 2006 and the report indicates clean-up at most bases will wait until then.

"This report makes clear that the Defense Department intends to continue to drag its feet until a federal standard for perchlorate is adopted, wasting precious time and exposing millions of Americans to the hazardous effects of perchlorate contamination of water supplies," Feinstein wrote. "This is an irresponsible and unacceptable approach to a serious problem."

A Pentagon official defended the report, contending that in some cases remediation wasn't needed because the amounts of perchlorate found weren't significant.

"We believe that our response to the congressional request for the report was responsive, and that the concerns that Sen. Feinstein has raised were really outside the request of the report," said Alex Beehler, assistant deputy undersecretary of defense for the environment, safety and occupational health.

The 14 bases listed in the Pentagon report were:

Fort McClellan in Alabama; Fort Ord, El Toro Marine Corps Base, McClellan Air Force Base and Mather Air Force Base in California; Pueblo Chemical Depot in Colorado; Savanna Army Depot and Chanute Air Force Base in Illinois;

Jefferson Proving Ground in Indiana; Fort Wingate Depot in New Mexico; Umatilla Chemical Depot in Oregon; Red River Army Depot in Texas, which is open, but scheduled to be closed; Camp Bonneville in Washington; and White Oak Naval Special Warfare Group in Maryland.]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/8193 Tue, 22 Jun 2004 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/8193
The study released Tuesday by the Environmental Working Group comes as state and federal regulators consider setting new standards to regulate perchlorate the explosive ingredient in missile fuel that has been linked to thyroid damage.

"Perchlorate exposure is more widespread than we have been led to believe," said Bill Walker, vice president for the West Coast office of the EWG, a research and advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C.

The EWG did not call for Californians to stop drinking milk or giving it to their children, but said it does advocate tougher standards for perchlorate.

Perchlorate has been found in drinking water in more than 20 states, including California, which has extensive ties to the military, defense industry and the space program. The chemical has been detected in the Colorado River, the major source of drinking water and irrigation in Southern California and Arizona.

Researchers are divided about the effects of perchlorate on mental development and what exposure levels are safe.

In March, California health officials concluded that perchlorate could be dangerous at levels above 6 parts per billion in drinking water a level that could be used later this year to set the nation's first state standard.

But U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials, and some environmental groups, say that standard would be too weak. The EPA advocates a standard of just 1 part per billion.

The new study on milk was based on laboratory tests the EWG commissioned as well as unreleased tests by the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

The EWG tests, conducted by researchers at Texas Tech University, found the chemical in 31 of 32 samples from milk purchased at grocery stores in Los Angeles and Orange counties. The average level of the chemical was 1.3 parts per billion.

The EWG said the Food and Agriculture Department tests found an average level of 5.8 parts per billion of perchlorate in 34 samples it tested from milk silos in Alameda, Sacramento and San Joaquin counties.

Department officials confirmed those results, but spokesman Steve Lyle said the findings didn't show any need for consumers to drink less milk.

"At this point, there is not enough information to suggest that eating foods with low levels of perchlorate poses a significant health concern," Lyle said.

The EWG study didn't determine how the chemical ended up in cows' milk, but perchlorate has been found in many of the state's water sources, which are used to irrigate farmland and grow crops fed to cows.

California's dairy industry will work with state and federal officials to find out how perchlorate is getting into milk and how to remove the chemical, said Michael Marsh, CEO of the Western United Dairymen, which represents the state's $4.5 billion dairy industry. But Marsh said there is a "paucity of science" showing perchlorate's harmful effects on human health.

A recent study by the University of California at Irvine found that healthy adults were not harmed by levels as high as 100 parts per billion of perchlorate. But the study did not draw conclusions about perchlorate's impact on pregnant women, children and infants. ]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/8166 Wed, 16 Jun 2004 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/8166
"Technically, we could still turn the wells on,' said General Manager Robert Hayward. However, he said, "we are not going to do that. We are going to take public health into consideration and leave the wells off until the new system plant is up and running.'

"We know that perchlorate in our drinking water wells originated from past discharges at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the known perchlorate plume site,' the private company said in a letter to its several thousand customers.

Decades of chemical contamination from JPL's disposal of rocket fuel in ground seepage pits during the 1940s and 1950s, has resulted in high concentrations of perchlorate and volatile organic compounds in the area's groundwater.

While no maximum contaminant level is in place for perchlorate in drinking water, California's advisory to protect consumers increased from four to six parts per billion in March. One part per billion is equivalent to about one drop of water in an Olympic-sized swimming pool.

Perchlorate has been linked to thyroid problems, especially in developing fetuses, as the chemical can interfere with normal uptake of iodine by the thyroid gland.

In April and May, samples from Lincoln Avenue Water Company's well-head registered perchlorate levels between eight and 15 parts per billion.

The new treatment plant was designed by U.S. Filter and will use ion-exchange technology to remove the perchlorate from water to an undetectable level, Hayward said.

Steve Slaten, NASA's remedial project manager who is overseeing the water cleanup effort around JPL, said he applauds Lincoln Avenue Water Company's initiative and added, "We are taking the responsibility for funding.'

Another filtration system is under construction at the heart of the area with the highest level of chemicals on JPL's campus. Slaten said he is hoping for the start up of that plant later this summer. ]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/8084 Sat, 22 May 2004 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/8084
The Aquarion Water Co., a private investor-owned company which provides water to about 9,000 people in Millbury, shut down the wells Thursday and sent representatives door-to-door with notices telling customers not drink or use the water.

The wells will remain out of service until the company and the state Department of Environmental Protection can develop a treatment plan for the perchlorate, a chemical used to make rocket and jet fuels, fireworks and explosives.

Now that the two wells have been shut down, "there is no perchlorate getting into the system at this time," said DEP spokesman Ed Coletta.

Perchlorate can be found in surface and groundwater around military operations, defense contracting, construction sites or manufacturing facilities. The source of the contamination in the wells has not been found.

The test results revealed perchlorate levels at 42.6 parts per billion at one well, and 18.45 parts per billion at the other, according to DEP.

The general population should not drink water with more than 18 parts per billion, while pregnant women, infants, and children younger than 12 should not drink water with levels at more than 1 part per billion, Coletta said.

Perchlorate affects the thyroid gland, and effects from exposure are similar to those of iodine deficiency. Perchlorate is not absorbed through the skin, and therefore there is no threat from showering or bathing. Perchlorate does not evaporate and there is no danger of exposure from inhalation. ]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/7858 Thu, 25 Mar 2004 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/7858
The environmental group contends that the administration has broken the law by failing to turn over documents in response to requests for perchlorate-related records under the Freedom of Information Act.

The environmental group requested the records from the White House, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Defense. It sought details of what government officials knew about the scope of perchlorate pollution and the health effects of the contaminant. It also sought to determine whether defense officials had sought to soften EPA health rules governing perchlorate, said an attorney for the environmental group.

"The issue from our perspective is children's health, and to get to the bottom of it, we filed requests" for information, Colangelo said. "We believe this administration has been working with industry behind closed doors to keep protective standards from being passed."

An EPA official said Wednesday that the agency was "actively working on" the organization's information request.

Perchlorate has been used in fireworks, road flares and other items, in addition to munitions, and is in the booster rockets that propel the space shuttle.

Studies of laboratory rats have shown that tiny doses of perchlorate can affect the thyroid's production of hormones crucial to development in early childhood. However, the level at which it poses a danger to humans is unclear. ]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/7859 Wed, 24 Mar 2004 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/7859
However, officials with Goodrich Corp., which operates the former Universal Propulsion Co. site at Happy Valley Road and Central Avenue, said there is no threat to residents along Yearling Road, north of their site, because they believe the groundwater flows southwest in the area.

The company on Tuesday reported it had found perchlorate levels ranging from 43 parts per billion to 130 ppb in groundwater wells on the southeastern corner of its property. There is no health standard for perchlorate in either federal or state regulations, although the state has a guideline of 14 ppb.

The findings came as a result of a Phoenix request that the firm drill two monitor wells as a condition of seeking city approval for its expansion plans.

The news is sure to heighten the opposition of some area residents to Goodrich's plan to move its California propulsion system to north Phoenix. And it feeds the growing controversy over perchlorate, a common ingredient used in the manufacture of propellants and explosives, such as the ejection seats that Goodrich's aircraft interior products division makes.

Although there is no standard for how much perchlorate is acceptable, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is researching one and California has proposed a 6 ppb standard. The Department of Defense wants a 200 ppb standard.

Perchlorate has been shown to inhibit the function of the thyroid gland.

Steve Owens, Arizona Department of Environmental Quality director, said the high readings should signal caution for residents along Yearling Road, the plant's northern boundary, who rely on well water.

"Until we get a clear answer on whether drinking-well water is contaminated, we will require UPCO to provide bottle water to those residents," Owens said.

Beginning today, company representatives will ask residents along Yearling Road, between Seventh Street and Seventh Avenue, for permission to sample their well water.

DEQ will monitor the work. The firm has agreed to return test results within 24 hours.

"We're just trying to rule out contamination," said DEQ spokesman Patrick Gibbons. The agency doesn't believe the local residents have polluted well water, but it wants to be cautious, he said.

Goodrich officials said they will offer to test the tap water of the approximately 15 homes along Yearling Road, and will provide bottled water to the residents if they request it.

At an earlier news briefing, Christine Probett, president of the aircraft-products division, said company officials were surprised at the perchlorate readings. That's because earlier soil samples showed contamination tapered off at 60 feet below ground, whereas groundwater is about 210 feet below the surface.

Probett said the company will move quickly to figure out the extent of perchlorate contamination and to test its belief that the groundwater flow is away from, not toward, residential areas.

But she would not comment on whether the company would remediate the contamination.

"I think what we have to do first is understand what we have," she said. That could take several months, she added.

Goodrich employees use a drinking-water well on the site and will continue to do so, she said. Periodic tests have shown perchlorate readings ranging from non-detectable to 2 ppb.

The high readings reported Tuesday are believed to come from a washout area that the former Universal Propulsion Co. used, Probett said. The contamination happened before Goodrich acquired the company five years ago, Probett said, although she did not have an idea of how long ago.]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/7512 Mon, 02 Feb 2004 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/7512
Perchlorate apparently seeped into the river from a rocket fuel factory outside Las Vegas, said Charles Sanchez, who heads the University of Arizona's Yuma Agricultural Center.

Traces were found in the outside leaves and sometimes the pithy framework of lettuce grown in Arizona and California, Sanchez said.

But no traces were found in the tender leaves that people eat.

The findings of the study, funded by the Arizona Iceberg Lettuce Research Council, aren't particularly alarming, Sanchez said. There is no reason to avoid eating vegetables from plants irrigated with Colorado River water, he said. ]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/7033 Thu, 13 Nov 2003 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/7033
Last spring, 22 wells were found to be contaminated with perchlorate. The latest findings bring the number to 148.

The Environmental Protection Agency investigated after the chemical was found in the town a few years ago. Testing was done in May, and again this fall.

Perchlorate, which occurs naturally and is produced commercially, is used in rocket fuel, munitions, fireworks and fertilizer. It can damage the thyroid gland, disrupt hormone levels and slow brain development in infants.

The EPA is researching the history of the area to determine the source of the contamination.

Hills is about 10 miles south of Iowa City.]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/7034 Wed, 29 Oct 2003 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/7034
The Institute for Environmental and Human Health conducted studies that found the chemical in milk from supermarkets in Lubbock, while the Water Resources Center with the civil engineering department found perchlorate in water wells throughout the region.

Andrew Jackson, an assistant professor of civil engineering, said perchlorate is a chemical that is used as an ox din in solid rockets. Within the rocket, the chemical takes the place of oxygen. Perchlorate also can be found in flares, matches and some explosives.

Recently, the concern about perchlorate in drinking water has become a major issue. According to one graduate student, this is because perchlorate can reduce thyroid hormone production and impair development of the gland.

Andrea Kirk, a graduate research assistant for the TIEHH, began her findings while working on her dissertation, she said. Since fall 2001, Kirk has found the chemical in seven supermarket milk samples bought randomly in Lubbock, according to her dissertation.

Ernest Smith, an associate professor for the Department of Environmental Toxicology and TIEHH, said the study is not definitive.

"The information is very limited because of the number of samples we are using," Smith said.

Although TIEHH has been able to detect smaller quantities of perchlorate, the quantity has not dropped below the limit of detection level, Kirk said.

To answer more questions, TIEHH has been working with the department of chemistry and biochemistry to validate the method and see if it is reproducible through the chemistry department, he said. However, the work put forth by Kirk and the Developmental and Reproductive Toxicology Research Laboratory has broken new ground in the study.

"This is the first to have this as a published, validated method for finding perchlorate," Smith said.

Little is known about the effects of perchlorate in humans. Although there is not much definitive data, TIEHH is looking into the effects of perchlorate at the molecular level, Smith said.

The research could explain more of how perchlorate affects offspring. Smith said one example could be an expecting mother who is exposed to large amounts of perchlorate. The unborn child's metabolism and central nervous system could be affected by the exposure.

The Environmental Protection Agency had set a draft for dosage in regard to the amount of perchlorate in the human body. However, the draft has been challenged by the U.S. Department of Defense. Jackson said the draft would be sent to the National Academy of Science to be rechecked.

Currently, the chemical has been found in about 30 states. The Water Resources Center in the civil engineering department has been researching hundreds of wells in the West Texas region and have found the chemical in low concentration.

"There is a significant number of wells with perchlorate in them," Jackson said.

The center's work with the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality and the United States Department of Agriculture has taken the researchers throughout the region. Jackson said he would like to research wells further east in Texas.

Despite the chemical found in the region, the amount of perchlorate found has been in low concentration. Jackson said more research would need to be done in order to find out where the chemical originally came from.

In some cases, the chemical originated from rocket plants being in the area, Jackson said. The Water Resources Center does have their own hypotheses to the findings, but have not found any scientific evidence to back them up.

"It could be a natural chemical in the water or the natural use of Chilean fertilizers. A very small percentage of it could have been used in this area," Jackson said. "However, this is all a hypothesis. There is no scientific evidence in it yet."]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/6830 Wed, 22 Oct 2003 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/6830
The old landfill was used between the 1940s and 1980s. The landfill and other sites around the grounds are contaminated with toxic chemicals used to make rocket fuel and explosives, metals used to make ammunition and other material waste from weapons manufacturing. Depleted uranium rounds for anti-tank weapons had been manufactured at the plant in the past, but the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission removed the base from its list of managed sites in October 2001.

Hundreds of monitoring wells have been placed around the grounds in an attempt to locate areas of concern. Two of the wells recently picked up high concentrations of perchlorate, a toxin used in the manufacture of rocket fuel. Perchlorate can cause thyroid and brain growth problems if consumed in drinking water.

The U.S. Army hired several companies to tackle the contamination problems and make sure nothing is spreading outside of the fence around Lake City.

One company, T&N Associates, has been repairing and resealing the old 8.28 acre landfill.

Gary Vogelsong, project manager, said the landfill has been cracking on the surface due to settling and past construction errors. He said many of the cracks are five to six feet deep and anywhere from one to two feet wide. The depth of the safety cap on the landfill is anywhere from one to six feet under the surface, so it is likely the cap has been compromised by the cracking. Rain water gushes into the cracks and washes contaminants into a nearby creek, which can then carry them outside the fence.

Vogelsong said his company has located all the cracks, and is busy digging them up and filling them with compacted material. The company has also been taking measures to slow rainwater runoff from the hill.

A document is being put together outlining a plan to create a new wetland at the base of the landfill, to capture runoff and allow it to settle among aquatic plants that can absorb toxins. The document will be released for a 30-day public review on Nov. 17. The Missouri Department of Natural Resources must then approve the document. The Army Corps of Engineers would like to have the wetland constructed by spring or summer of 2004.

The U.S. Army also hired a company called Arcadis, which was awarded a guaranteed fixed price contract to clean up the grounds. Details of the contract were not released to the public, because the negotiations were declared confidential.

Lee Ann Smith, project manager for Arcadis, said the intent of her company is to restore the land to a safe and useful level. Her company will work closely with regulatory agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency.

Arcadis will begin collecting groundwater data immediately and then develop a model that will contain contaminants on site. The goal is to have remedies in place by 2007.

"We believe we are going to be able to take care of the majority of these issues with several basic remedies," Smith said. "If we just took the money and walked away without solving the problems we wouldn't be in business very long."

Smith said some of the strategies her company may use include building retaining berms, removing contaminated soils, and attracting contaminant cleaning insects by injecting cheese whey or molasses into the soil near boundaries.

Neighbors who are members of the Lake City Restoration Advisory Board were skeptical about the whole plan.

"For years we've heard that this wasn't going to be cleaned up in several lifetimes. Now, in several board meetings, we hear it's going to be cleaned up within the next few years," said Greg Perry, neighbor and board member. "I guess I'll stay cautiously optimistic, but I have fuzzy feelings about this."

Perry was concerned about the contract with Arcadis being a fixed- price contract. He said this encouraged the cheapest, quickest remedies to be put in place.

"Contamination has been a major problem around here for years and now Arcadis is going to come in, dig a couple holes, squirt in some Cheez Whiz and this is all going to be fixed? I still have serious concerns about this," Perry said.

Perry said Lake City was built on one of the largest aquifers in the area and over the years, waste has just been dumped wherever it was most convenient. His biggest concern is that contaminants are seeping into a groundwater plume and being carried all over the county from there.

"I didn't become a member of the advisory board to just nod my head and go along with whatever they decide. I want these problems fixed correctly," Perry said.

Other members of the board pleaded with Army officials to get them information before the decisions are made, instead of afterward when it doesn't matter any more.]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/6713 Sat, 27 Sep 2003 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/6713
"It's getting too close for comfort," Bradley Baxter, the city's director of public works, said Friday by telephone. "It's one of our top producers."

Rialto already has shut down five of its 13 drinking wells tainted by perchlorate, an explosive salt used in making rocket fuel, ammunition, fireworks and other products. With one-third of its supply contaminated, Rialto declared a water emergency in July. The city's 100,000 residents have voluntarily reduced use by 12 percent, Baxter said.

The city will serve as a backdrop for an announcement by Sen. Nell Soto, D-Pomona, and other state officials touting Gov. Davis' intention to sign a package of bills designed to protect the state's water supply from perchlorate, said Russ Lopez, a Davis spokesman.

In all, 20 wells that serve more than 250,000 people in Rialto, Colton and Fontana have been shut down or restricted because of the perchlorate. The chemical can impair thyroid function and stunt development of fetuses and newborns.

The perchlorate is believed to have seeped into the ground over the past 60 years at an industrial site in north Rialto used by defense contractors, fireworks manufacturers and San Bernardino County, which operates the Mid-Valley Sanitary Landfill.

Groundwater tests conducted recently by the county show that perchlorate as high as 310 parts per billion, nearly 80 times the state's advisory level, is present southeast of the landfill, according to a report submitted to the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Board.

The perchlorate, which is moving an average 2 feet per day, is about three-quarters of a mile from Rialto's drinking well, according to the tests. More investigation could find that it's even closer, said Kurt Berchtold, assistant executive officer of the regional water board.

San Bernardino County officials say the contamination appears to be coming from a bunker area the county bought in 1993 to expand its landfill. The county demolished the bunkers that stored munitions and fireworks, and used the area to store dirt dug from other parts of the landfill.

The county will look at ways to prevent the perchlorate from reaching the Rialto well, said Peter Wulfman, the county's solid-waste management manager.

"Our goal," he said, "will be to limit the situation as soon as possible."

Several other companies are in various stages of soil and water investigations to determine if they contributed to the pollution, Berchtold said. The board, along with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, has been working to define the boundaries of the contamination and find those responsible.

Perchlorate has contaminated water sources nationwide, including the Colorado River, a major Inland source, and sites in Redlands, Corona and the Jurupa Valley.

State and federal officials are developing drinking water standards for perchlorate. California has an "action level" of 4 parts per billion, at which point water agencies are encouraged to notify consumers. ]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/6635 Fri, 29 Aug 2003 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/6635
Aerojet and Boeing agreed to settle the lawsuit for pollution that dates to the 1950s when they tested and developed rockets in Rancho Cordova, now a rapidly growing suburb with plans to build 22,000 homes over 30 years. Water for that project had been in doubt.

"This amount of water should more than satisfy the water replacement needs now and in the future, with water available for demands due to development," said Herb Niederberger, division chief of the county water resources department.

The agreement will give the county the right to draw 19 million to 24 million gallons of water from the American River, which equals the amount the companies pump and treat before dumping it in the river. Treatment removes contaminants that include industrial solvents and perchlorate, an oxidizer for solid rocket propellant.

Chris Conley, a vice president for Aerojet's parent company, GenCorp, said the settlement could also pave the way for a resolution with the area's largest water supplier, Southern California Water Co. The company has a lawsuit pending against GenCorp, seeking water it lost when eight wells were contaminated.]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/6508 Mon, 18 Aug 2003 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/6508
Perchlorate has been found in water in Hills in eastern Iowa, Napier west of Ames, and Ewart, located in east-central Iowa near Montezuma.

The contaminate can damage the thyroid gland and slow brain development in infants.

Investigators say they have no idea where the perchlorate came from.

Federal workers found such high concentrations in Hills that they are offering bottled water to about 20 families where the contamination has surfaced. ]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/6509 Fri, 15 Aug 2003 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/6509
Now, of the nearly 450 contaminated wells between Tennant Avenue in Morgan Hill and north Gilroy, six are located south of Leavesley Road, bringing the garlic town more deeply into the perchlorate mix. In June, a perchlorate test on a private well at Holsclaw Road south of Gilman Road showed a 4.7 parts per billion (ppb) contamination level.

The level at which the state requires water users to be warned about the contaminant is 4 ppb. The five most recent detections ranged from 4 ppb to 6.4 ppb.

Officials downplayed the significance of the news, saying the new set of tainted water sources does not imply the perchlorate plume is heading farther south, as it was feared in June when the Holsclaw Road well tested positive. All of the wells testing positive in this latest round of monitoring were north of the Holsclaw Road well.

This merely indicates the plume is there, but not that it is moving, said Santa Clara Valley Water District spokesperson Mike DiMarco. The plume has been there all along, now weve just discovered it. This is not a cause for alarm.

So far, the perchlorate plume stretches 9.2 miles with detections ranging from around 4 ppb to 100 ppb. Olins most recent monitoring tested up to 161 wells. Roughly 14 wells tested were south of Leavesley Road.

Roughly 1,200 wells between Morgan Hill and north Gilroy now have been tested for perchlorate.

County and regional water officials confirmed the latest contamination data Wednesday in Palo Alto at a perchlorate seminar for lawyers. Olin Corp., the company responsible for the Morgan Hill contamination, and the Santa Clara Valley Water District have not formally released the latest test data, so some details are sketchy.

Sources for this story did not release contamination levels for each well, nor did they release which streets had contaminated wells.

What is known is that none of the contaminated wells are Gilroy city water sources. City water operations supervisor Dan Aldridge this week said tests done on the eight city wells in July came back negative earlier this month. Results from Augusts testings have not been returned from the lab.

In April, a Gilroy city monitoring well on Leavesley tested positive for perchlorate in the 4 to 10 ppb range. The monitoring well is not used for drinking water.

All of the new detections are from wells that are located farther (away) from Gilroys municipal wells (than the monitoring well), a press release issued by the City of Gilroy stated.

Olin Corp. will still have to test wells another one to two miles south of the southernmost contaminated well.

Olin understands our directive well, which is to find the extent of the plume and for the tests to extend as far south as they need to, said Harvey Packard, a senior groundwater resources engineer with the Regional Water Quality Control Board.

Packards agency is overseeing Olins perchlorate investigation.

Perchlorate is used in the manufacture of rocket fuel, flares and fertilizer. Its health risk is still unclear, and jockeying for regulation standards at the state and federal levels is under way. At some exposure levels, perchlorate is known to cause thyroid problems and tumors in humans.

It is not known for certain the levels at which exposure becomes a danger. At the Wednesday seminar, state water toxicologist Robert Howd said a 2002 study revealed that thyroids in humans have trouble uptaking iodide when a mere dosage of .0068 milligrams per kilogram of body weight enters ones diet. That means a 150-pound person would have trouble uptaking iodide with a total dosage of 2.25 milligrams.

The warning level for perchlorate was lowered in 2002 by the state from 18 ppb to 4 ppb.

On Aug. 7, Santa Clara Countys perchlorate problem focused north. An explosion demolished a building last week at a United Technologies Corp. facility in San Jose causing a 10-acre grass fire.

United Technologies is an aerospace and manufacturing conglomerate that uses perchlorate in its rocket fuel, so there was concern the chemical may have seeped into the groundwater basin around Anderson Reservoir as firefighting efforts doused the flames.

The conventional wisdom is that it all burned up, but we say prove it, said Thomas Mohr, an engineering geologist for the water district.

Anderson Reservoir is the districts largest drinking water supply. So far, tests for perchlorate have come up clean, but further monitoring is ongoing, Mohr said.]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/6510 Mon, 11 Aug 2003 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/6510
Given the city's past, and that the missile was not armed, authorities were not necessarily surprised or alarmed by the discovery; school officials say they believe the missile was left over from an old show-and-tell program. But that doesn't mean missiles have a benign history in Rialto, a city of nearly 100,000 people 60 miles east of Los Angeles. For missiles, armed and not, contain rocket fuel, and within rocket fuel is perchlorate.

The chemical allows combustion and has many uses, from space shuttle rocket boosters to road flares. But it also has been proved to inhibit the production of growth hormones in fetuses and young children. At high levels, it can cause thyroid cancer.

Officials have found perchlorate in 319 wells in California, but nowhere is harder hit than Rialto. The city relies solely on groundwater for its drinking supply, while other California communities have alternate sources. Five of Rialto's 15 wells have been closed because of perchlorate contamination.

The timing couldn't be worse. Drought is lowering water levels, and water is being drained from the system for the construction of a new freeway into town.

"We're the perfect storm of perchlorate pollution," said Bradley Baxter, the city's director of public works. "We're 76 percent minority with a median household income of $45,000, and we're on the verge of tremendous growth because of the freeway. We get 50 calls a week from people who want to build homes, offices or warehouses that will create jobs, and right now we're worried we can't accommodate them because we're going to run out of water."

Rialto has called for voluntary water-use reductions of 30 percent, which will quickly become mandatory if they aren't met.

Last month, the Defense Department decided it would test perchlorate cleanup technologies in Rialto and several other Southern California cities. The move was praised by environmentalists as a good first step to resolving the problem, especially because the Pentagon had earlier decided it would not test all of its facilities for perchlorate contamination.

During World War II, the Pentagon operated the Rialto Ammunition Storage Point, the primary West Coast way station for arms shipments out of Long Beach. Although the Pentagon did not admit responsibility for the perchlorate contamination, the move represents a new tack in its approach to the pollutant, which may have penetrated groundwater at hundreds of U.S. installations.

"We don't have our arms around the full extent of the problem, but we need to demonstrate cost-effective treatments," said John Paul Woodley Jr., assistant deputy undersecretary of defense for the environment. "We expect the lessons learned here to be used across the country."

Before announcing the test program, the Pentagon had said it could take no action on perchlorate until the Environmental Protection Agency set a maximum contaminant level for the chemical in drinking water.

The maximum level is a matter of dispute between the EPA and Pentagon. The EPA's initial analysis is that perchlorate is safe at levels lower than 1 part per billion, while the Pentagon believes it is safe at levels of as much as 200 parts per billion. The levels in Rialto range from 4 to 80 parts per billion. The final decision on an acceptable level is crucial because it would set a standard for regulatory action and determine how much the Defense Department and its contractors are likely to pay for cleanup.

Environmentalists say it could take years until the standard is established and are frustrated at the delay.

It's "very shortsighted," said Erik D. Olson, senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council. "It's like taking embers and trying to hide them; they're only going to burn. This issue is going to explode when the facts come out."

Because of the test program, Rialto is holding off on suing the Defense Department, but it is considering more than a dozen lawsuits against private companies that it believes are responsible for the contamination, which could cost as much as $100 million to clean up.

In three cases in California, perchlorate cleanup has moved quickly in response to legal action. Most recently, Lockheed Martin Corp. contributed more than $60 million to clean the drinking water in Redlands and several other cities. The other two cases also involved a single company. But in Rialto, there may be as many as 100 polluters, which will exacerbate the crisis by adding more time and expense.

"Here we have many contaminators, a 50-year evidence trail and a lot of finger-pointing," said Robert A. Owen, city attorney. "That doesn't lend itself to the cooperative solutions seen elsewhere."

The California Regional Water Quality Control Board Santa Ana Region, which enforces water-quality laws, has requested records from 18 companies and government agencies, including the Pentagon, on their activities or field research at sites in Rialto.

Of the private companies contacted, only Goodrich Corp., the maker of the missile found at the elementary school, has agreed to help. Without admitting responsibility, Goodrich said it will contribute $1 million each for well-treatment projects in four area water districts, including Rialto.

"We're not going to raise rates to consumers to pay for perchlorate filtration like other agencies have," Baxter said. "We believe the people responsible for the pollution should clean it up." ]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/6451 Sat, 09 Aug 2003 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/6451
Those standards are expected by early 2004.

While Simi Valley does not use groundwater for drinking supplies, high levels of perchlorate have been detected in groundwater wells in the city and in a well adjacent to Ahmanson Ranch. More recently, perchlorate was detected in surface water in Simi Valley neighborhoods with high water tables.

"As they set the standards for drinking water, we will see that they address the issues concerning Simi," Boxer said.

Around the state, cities affected by perchlorate are adopting the same safe drinking water standards for groundwater to avoid future liability. Perchlorate, the main ingredient in rocket fuel, and in lesser amounts for ammunition, fireworks and other products, is known to pose serious health risks. It has been linked to thyroid disorders and cancer and can affect physical and mental development in fetuses.

Boxer, who has led the federal effort to clean up perchlorate contamination in California communities, announced during a perchlorate conference at the University of California at Riverside on Thursday that the Department of Defense has entered into an agreement with the state of California to abide by state drinking water standards for perchlorate.

The agreement promises the Department of Defense will delay compliance until a federal standard is adopted. Federal officials say it could be years before a federal standard is established.

"I think we are at the point where we are going to make some progress," Boxer said. She stressed the urgency of cleaning up the contamination to California drinking and irrigation water supplies, which were largely contaminated by Department of Defense activities stretching back to the 1940s.

"Time is not on our side. It is tough to have economic development when we are losing our local water supplies," Boxer said.

John Paul Woodley Jr., assistant deputy undersecretary of defense for the environment, said the Department of Defense will set up a state task force made up of state agencies such as the Department of Social and Health Services and state Environmental Protection Agency.

Woodley said the task force will help the Department of Defense work more effectively with the state. The Department of Defense has been often criticized for holding up cleanup efforts

"We are in that awkward period between the time when a matter is addressed as a public threat and the time when we have all the tools to deal with the matter on a routine basis," Woodley said.

Woodley said the Department of Defense will agree to comply with cleanup standards set by the state but noted it was still too early to speculate if the federal government would pick up the tab for the cleanup.]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/6452 Fri, 08 Aug 2003 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/6452
The day-long affair covered perchlorates health risks for humans, affects on crops, treatment of contaminated water and soil and case studies. It also focused on the appropriate maximum contaminant level (MCL) for perchlorate the state Department of Health Services is scheduled to set by next year, which according to the majority of speakers in attendance will be near 4 parts per billion.

Currently, the California Environmental Protection issues warning notices to affected water users whose perchlorate levels measure 4 ppb or higher, although it is not yet a lawful state regulation.

Since perchlorate testing began in South Valley in January, more than 400 wells between Morgan Hill and Gilroy have tested between 4 and 100 ppb.

Hearing the experience from other agencies and hearing directly from the EPA and DHS regarding how future levels (of perchlorate) will be set was most valuable, said Morgan Hill Public Works Director Jim Ashcraft.

Since January when perchlorate was found to have spread to the local underground water system from an initial contamination source at the Olin Corp. roadside flare plant at Tennant and Railroad avenues in south Morgan Hill, South Valley residents have pressed for more information about the chemical.

The seminar was organized and chaired by Thomas Mohr, engineering geologist for the Santa Clara Valley Water District, an agency closely involved with perchlorates contamination of wells in north Gilroy, San Martin and Morgan Hill. It was one of a series of such seminars on groundwater contaminants hosted by the Groundwater Resources Association of California, where Mohr is a director.

Robert Howd, chief of the water toxicology unit at the state Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA), part of the California Environmental Protection Agency, explained to the audience how perchlorate is measured. Howds office evaluates the risks of exposure to chemicals in air, water and soil and sets the Public Health Goal (PHG) for substances in groundwater.

Howd described PHG as the level of contaminant in drinking water that poses no significant health risk to people drinking the water daily for a lifetime. He said the level is determined without regard to cost or technical feasibility (and) considers sensitive groups such as pregnant women and infants and considers built-up exposure from all sources.

The PHG is advisory only and is not mandatory. Howd said that, even though the United States EPA decided on July 11 not to propose regulations for perchlorate in drinking water, the OEHHA expects to set the perchlorate PHG by fall.

David Ting, Ph.D., also of Howds agency, explained methods of varying testing of the effect perchlorate has on thyroid function. Perchlorate is known to inhibit the uptake of iodide to the thyroid gland. He recommended a level of 2 ppb.

David Spath, chief of the Division of Drinking Water and Environmental Management for the California Department of Health Services, said the MCL is usually as close to the PHG as possible. He said a zero level no perchlorate at all is impossible to work with, and suggested that 2 ppb would protect fetuses and infants.

Spath said more than 400 public water system wells in California show levels of the chemical between 4 ppb and 300 ppb.

Spath announced that the draft PHG will likely suggest levels of 2 ppb for infants and 6 ppb for adults.

Right now my laboratories feel 4 ppb is reasonable, Spath said. We didnt react early enough (to the perchlorate issue). We knew in the early 1980s that it was a contaminant and we werent conservative enough in toxicology. In the future, we will react faster.

In evaluating the PHG, Spaths agency is required to look at the technical feasibility of regulating perchlorate, including laboratories ability to analyze for low levels, the costs of monitoring and the costs of cleanup.

He said the draft PHG is under review by the University of California. ]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/6424 Thu, 07 Aug 2003 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/6424
In May 2002, a water test at Knebel's home on Iowa Street indicated her water supply had 28.8 parts per billion concentration of perchlorate well above the recommended safety level. In May, it tested at 39.2 parts per billion.

"I've been drinking it all the years I've been here," Knebel said, adding that she has not experienced any health problems. "I'm concerned about the future and anyone who might be living here."

Knebel isn't alone. She and more than 100 other Hills residents attended an informational meeting Wednesday with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to discuss water and soil test results.

In May, the EPA sampled 28 wells for perchlorate. Of those, 11 tested above 18 parts per billion - the provisional safety threshold. The highest level recorded was 51 parts per billion.

"The results that we got, I wouldn't say they are worse or better than we expected," EPA project manager Dan Garvey told the group. "I would suspect it's been there for a long time."

Perchlorate is both a naturally occurring and man-made chemical. It is the main ingredient in the production of solid rocket fuel and also is used in munitions, fireworks and fertilizers. For humans, it interferes with iodine intake by the thyroid gland, which can affect metabolism and could cause thyroid tumors.

Impairment of thyroid function during pregnancy could affect the fetus, resulting in neurological disorders in the newborn.

In 2001, the EPA discovered perchlorate in the groundwater, drinking water and soil from Main Street in Hills extending south of town. The discovery was made by accident as scientists were originally scouring for pesticide residues left behind by grain bins.

Hills is one of three sites in Iowa with significant amounts of perchlorate in the water.

Now, a plume at least 2,000 feet in length stretches across the southern portion of Hills and is apparently heading northeast for the Iowa River. What EPA officials do not know is what or where the source of the perchlorate is.

Garvey said one reason for Wednesday's meeting was to question the group about any historical context or event that might have placed the perchlorate in the ground. Garvey said such information will help him devise the next round of sampling, expected to start one to two months from now.

Although 18 parts per billion still is considered safe, the EPA is offering bottled water to anyone whose well tested at 18 parts per billion or more. Those with wells that tested between four and 18 parts per billion should not be concerned.

"Nobody is falling over by drinking the water in this town," Garvey said.

Johnson County Health Department Director Ralph Wilmoth said no cases of illness tied to perchlorate have been reported.

Bottled water may be a temporary solution, but Hills eventually will be faced with implementing a long-term solution. Some perchlorate sites in California and Texas have addressed the problem by physically removing the chemical from the groundwater. However, it is an expensive and time-consuming technique, said Ken Buchholz of the EPA.

A municipal water plant is one solution. Currently, Hills residents use wells to draw their drinking water.

"Generally speaking, the most effective way to address the problem is to tap into an existing water system," he said.]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/6425 Mon, 04 Aug 2003 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/6425
Papelis, a water chemist for the past nine years at the statewide research center, joined UNLV researchers as a co-principal investigator on a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-sponsored perchlorate contamination study completed in March.

Perchlorate, produced for decades in Henderson-area chemical plants, interferes with thyroid gland functions and human development. Infants, young children and pregnant women are most susceptible.

"What we were looking at was the potential for migration of perchlorate in the area around the Las Vegas Wash," Papelis said. "Where did it come from? Where is it going? How long would it take to get there? Could this perchlorate be reduced in the soil by micro-organisms? And would it be retarded by soil at all?"

Papelis, 46, said the answer to the last question is no. Perchlorate travels with water and doesn't jump out of the flow to stick to soil or other surfaces.

"Essentially, if you know how the water's moving, you also know how the contaminant is moving," he said.

The answer to whether micro-organisms could help in the fight to get perchlorate out of Southern Nevada's drinking water is probably not. Papelis said desert soils don't have enough food to fuel the work of microbes that otherwise would be eager to consume perchlorate.

The study included lab research, computer modeling and sampling along the Las Vegas Wash and in wells tapping into groundwater.

"The main conclusion is there's a lot of perchlorate, and Kerr-McGee is doing a pretty good job of intercepting some of the perchlorate, but not everything," Papelis said. "You can build a barrier to stop the plume, but you have to deal with the backup. It will be years before we can flush out all of the perchlorate from the area between the manufacturing plant and the Las Vegas Wash. It's not something that's going to go away tomorrow. There's still a lot of perchlorate on its way down there."

Scientists hired by Kerr-Magee and the Southern Nevada Water Authority have determined the source of perchlorate and the contaminant's path. University system researchers have added to the knowledge base in the short time Lake Mead perchlorate contamination has been a concern.

The Environmental Protection Agency is working on establishing a national standard for safe perchlorate levels in drinking water. That could be four to six years out, although pressure is mounting to speed up the process.

"We don't even know if what we're drinking now will be considered safe in two or three years," Papelis said. "The absence of a standard makes people a little bit more nervous. Is it safe to drink, or not?"

In the late 1990s, California surprised Nevada by detecting perchlorate in the Colorado River.

The source of the river's perchlorate was found to be Lake Mead, which was being polluted by flows from the Henderson-area industrial complex that for decades produced the toxic rocket fuel ingredient. Perchlorate manufactured at Kerr-McGee Chemical Corp. and the former Pacific Engineering & Production Company of Nevada continues to reach groundwater.

Because of the presence of military bases around the country and their use of perchlorate, at least 22 states have varying levels of perchlorate pollution.

"It will be a problem for many, many water operators, not just Southern Nevada," Papelis said about the possibility the upcoming EPA standard will force greater drinking water cleanup measures.

Lake Mead's perchlorate problem has received so much attention because it is a source of drinking water for millions in the Western United States and an irrigation source for farmers in California's Imperial Valley, who grow the bulk of the nation's winter lettuce crop.

Papelis, a scuba diver and instructor at Lake Mead, also has his attention on selenium levels in the Las Vegas Wash's nature preserve.

Selenium is being monitored at pools in the Las Vegas Wash's new nature preserve to see whether they are reaching levels that would threaten the health of birds and other wildlife attracted to the area.

In small concentrations, selenium is essential for normal functioning of the immune system and thyroid gland, but it can quickly reach toxic levels.

Water that used to flow into the wash is now sitting in pools and picking up more selenium from the desert soil, which has high concentrations of the element in the West.

"We're going to see if there's something we need to worry about," Papelis said. "We're trying to look ahead, as opposed to trying to react in an emergency."

In addition to his work at a research institute largely funded by grants and contracts awarded to its scientists, Papelis teaches a basic chemistry class at Nevada State College at Henderson, heads the Water Resources Management master's program at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and is involved in the hydrological sciences graduate program at the University of Nevada, Reno.

He was born in Athens, Greece, received his doctorate in civil engineering from Stanford, speaks seven languages and drinks Las Vegas tap water when at home and bottled water when at work.]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/6426 Tue, 29 Jul 2003 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/6426
Thats the first thing that leapt to mind upon hearing that the federal Environmental Protection Agency wont set a federal standard for perchlorate levels until at least 2010.

The EPA says it still doesnt have enough information to establish enforceable levels of perchlorate, a chemical used in the manufacture of rocket fuel, air bags, fireworks and road flares. In other words, despite at least 10 years of EPA study, despite the EPAs preliminary plan to set the safe perchlorate level at 1 part per billion, despite knowledge that at some levels, exposure to the chemical is unsafe, the federal agency charged with protecting our environment now says: We just dont know what a safe level is yet.

We are doing studies on perchlorate, we care tremendously and were moving as fast as we can, said Ephraim King, the EPAs director of water standards and risk management division. We cant start the formal rule-making process until all the data is on the table.

So while the EPA moves at its decades-long snails pace to set standards for a problem thats been around for years, South Valley is hardly the first or only place in the United States to suffer from perchlorate pollution, the stuff is poisoning groundwater across the nation were left hanging.

The delay is unacceptable. Theres nothing right, fair or reasonable about asking the millions of people affected by perchlorate to wait seven long years before answering their fair and reasonable questions:

How much perchlorate is safe? At what level does it begin to effect my health? Should standards be different for sensitive populations such as pregnant women, infants, the elderly and the chronically ill? Can I give perchlorate-tainted water to my animals? Can I water my garden with it? And thats just off the top of our heads.

The Bush Administration, already on shaky ground for its environmental policies, has earned an F for responsiveness to this issue. On the other hand, defense industry contractors might be giving them an A" theres lots of talk that the Bush Administration and the EPA caved to pressure from defense industry lobbyists to delay perchlorate standards.

The fact that the EPA seemed poised to set a 1 part per billion standard before abruptly changing course adds fuel to that speculation.

There is one ray of hope. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., has introduced a bill into the U.S. Senate that would require the EPA to establish a maximum level of perchlorate in water by July 1, 2004.

The bill, S820, was introduced in early April, yet remains in the Environmental and Public Works Committee, where it awaits a hearing to determine if it will be sent to the full Senate.

Senate committees hearing schedules are determined by the committee chair, in this case, Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla. We urge South Valley residents to contact their senators and President George W. Bush to support Boxers perchlorate legislation. Readers can also contact Sen. Inhofe to urge him to give Boxers bill a hearing in his committee.

We dont know what a safe level of perchlorate contamination is, but we do know that we cant wait until 2010 to find out.]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/6323 Thu, 17 Jul 2003 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/6323
The Environmental Protection Agency late last week said it still lacks the information necessary to regulate perchlorate levels in drinking water.

According to water experts, the EPA probably will not issue enforceable standards for perchlorate and several other unregulated contaminants until at least 2010. Studies on the effects of perchlorate, which is known to cause thyroid damage, have been ongoing for almost 10 years.

Its quite disappointing the feds are not setting a standard so that we can work toward it, said Mike DiMarco, spokesperson for the Santa Clara Valley Water District. For the community, the question looming over everyones head is How much perchlorate is too much? and What, if anything, is this doing to my health?

EPA officials defended the organizations delay.

We are doing studies on perchlorate, we care tremendously and were moving as fast as we can, said Ephraim King, the EPAs director of water standards and risk management division. We cant start the formal rule-making process until all the data is on the table.

For now in California, detection at 4 parts per billion triggers warning notices to affected water users. Since perchlorate testing began in January, more than 400 wells between Morgan Hill and Gilroy have tested between 4 and 100 ppb.

The California EPA has set a public health goal between 2 to 6 ppb. However it will be at least until January 2004 before that goal becomes a state regulation according to Department of Health Services Spokesperson Robert Miller.

Olin Corporation is the company responsible for the contaminated groundwater basin in South County. The company used to produce flares, which contain perchlorate, at a now defunct factory at Railroad and Tennant avenues in Morgan Hill.

Olin has been testing wells and providing bottled water to contamination victims along a roughly eight-mile stretch that has now reached Gilroy.

The company recently announced a 42-well monitoring program and said it wants to test another 161 wells that could be contaminated. Most of those wells are in south San Martin and north Gilroy.

Officials from the Regional Water Quality Control Board and the state Department of Health Services could not be reached before deadline. However, DiMarco said the testing and monitoring programs by Olin would unlikely be changed by news of the EPA delay.

We still have the interim standard set by the state, DiMarco said.

The rush of lawsuits now more than 300 against Olin Corporation will still move forward, attorney Richard Alexander says.

Our proof in the courtroom will show that medical science confirms 1 to 2 ppb is extremely dangerous for unborn children, Alexander said. No matter what the government may or may not do, science is absolutely clear.

Alexanders firm, Alexander Hawes & Audet, represents roughly 200 of the lawsuits.

Perchlorate is a toxic part of solid rocket fuel. The local contamination is one of the few around the nation not caused by the defense industry.

San Martin resident Bob Cerruti, whose well has tested as high as 10 ppb for the deadly chemical, believes the defense industrys connection to perchlorate is a reason the government has not speedily cracked down on it.

Its just a thought coming from me, I have no proof of that, Cerruti said. But I dont get the warm and fuzzies that theyre interested in attacking the problem head on.

Cerruti is attacking perchlorate head on. He is finishing up his own study of how severely perchlorate contaminates produce.

Cerruti is watering a row of tomatoes with his poisoned well water and another row with bottled water. By the end of July, he says he will have enough to harvest and send to a private lab.

Theyre going to test everything for me, the tomatoes, the water, the soil, Cerruti said]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/6324 Wed, 16 Jul 2003 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/6324
EPA officials also decided against adding more contaminants to the list of about 90 that the government already regulates in drinking water. The agency concluded that for nine of 60 unregulated contaminants there was no need to create new drinking water standards. The other 51 contaminants are still being studied.

Environmentalists raised concerns Tuesday that perchlorate, a toxic part of solid rocket fuel that has contaminated water supplies in at least 22 states, wasn't among the contaminants whose studies were completed first. EPA is required by Congress to study only five unregulated contaminants every five years.

At that rate, according to water experts at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), EPA probably will not issue any new enforceable standards for perchlorate or any other of the unregulated contaminants until at least 2010.

"Which essentially would mean a generation of children and adults that would continue to be exposed to high levels of many of these contaminants," said NRDC senior attorney Erik Olson.

But the agency is trying to move quickly on perchlorate, said Ephraim King, who directs the EPA Office of Water's standards and risk management division, which oversees the contaminant studies.

"We are doing studies on perchlorate, we care tremendously, and we're moving as fast as we can," he said. "We can't start the formal rule-making process until all the data is on the table."

One of the EPA rules proposed Friday would require communities to improve their water treatment plants' ability to monitor for and protect against cryptosporidium, a waterborne parasite that killed 100 people in Milwaukee in 1993 but is most common in developing countries.

Water systems would also be required to use better filters or create buffer strips to protect watersheds. Annually, that would add up to $1.68 to the average household's yearly water bills, EPA estimates.

To guard against disinfection byproducts, which form when organic matter reacts with chlorine and other disinfectants added to reduce microbes, EPA would require water treatment systems to monitor and document where the highest concentrations are in their pipelines.

Both rules would take effect by mid-2004.

NRDC criticized the byproducts rule proposal because it would allow states to make case-by-case decisions using only EPA guidance about whether to require more action. ]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/6325 Tue, 15 Jul 2003 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/6325
The decision means that it could be a decade or more before the EPA issues a safety standard for perchlorate, a chemical that studies show interferes with normal thyroid function and may cause cancer. The chemical persists indefinitely in the environment.

The agency has also decided not to set a safety standard for certain byproducts of chlorine and other chemicals used to disinfect drinking water that have been linked in numerous studies to birth defects and miscarriages.

Instead, EPA officials decided to leave it up to each state to set safety standards for the byproducts, which are found in the drinking water of 250 million Americans.

The decisions were buried at the bottom of a nine-paragraph press statement the agency released quietly late Friday afternoon and which did not attract the attention of environmentalists and public health advocates until Tuesday.

"This is nothing less than a sneak attack on America's drinking water safety," said Erik Olson of the Natural Resources Defense Council, a national environmental group. "These are major regulatory decisions that they essentially were trying to hide from the American public."

Acting EPA Administrator Linda Fisher signed the decisions Friday, her last day on the job. Agency spokesman John Millett denied that the decisions were timed to avoid public scrutiny.

"We wanted to get the (press) release out as soon after the signature as we could," Millett said. "It didn't get in the papers. I don't know why."

The EPA statement does not specifically mention perchlorate, but notes in the last paragraph that the agency has decided not to formulate safety standards for any of the dozens of chemicals and other contaminants found in drinking water that are on its "contaminant candidate list." That list includes perchlorate.

Under the Safe Drinking Water Act, the EPA is required to formally decide every five years whether to set safety standards for at least five of the chemicals or other contaminants on its contaminant list.

The list is not due to be reviewed again for another three to five years, depending upon an interpretation of the law. The agency could decide before then to set safety standards for perchlorate, but only under "emergency" procedures outlined in the drinking-water law that have never been used, Olson said.

Once a decision is made to set a safety standard for drinking water, it takes the EPA at least two years to issue a regulation and three to five more years before the regulation becomes enforceable, Olson said. That means it's likely to be at least a decade before there is a safety standard for perchlorate, he said.

Millett disagreed with Olson's assessment, saying the agency could act sooner if necessary.

"The time frame at this point is speculation," Millett said. "We're developing a lot of information on perchlorate," including monitoring data from 4,000 water systems around the country. The EPA has also asked the National Academy of Sciences to study the perchlorate issue. A report is expected next year.

Regarding byproducts from drinking-water disinfectants, the EPA has formally proposed a regulation, but critics said it was a hollow proposal that does not contain a specific safety standard or maximum amount for the contaminants that water utilities can use to guide them.

"I think the public health is definitely not being served here," said Jeff Griffiths, a member of the EPA's national drinking-water advisory council and a professor of public health at Tufts University. He points to more than 50 studies that find "very clear evidence" that the byproducts cause cancer and are linked to birth defects and miscarriages.]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/6217 Thu, 26 Jun 2003 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/6217
The well owner, whose identity is being kept confidential by Santa Clara Valley Water District, ran a test in May that revealed a 4.7 parts per billion contamination level, less than 1 part per billion above the states action level which triggers warning notices.

The information was reported to the water district earlier this week, spokesperson Mike DiMarco said. It is the southernmost detection of the chemical since testing began in February. A well at Leavesley Road just east of U.S. 101 tested positive at 4 to 10 parts per billion.

For right now Id really consider this part of the plume, said George Cook, an engineering geologist for the water district. Its following the general trend of the plume and Olin Corporation is using this information for its new (well) sampling program.

Cook said Olins testing program will likely expand further south now that a detection below Leavesley has occurred.

Olin is the former Morgan Hill flare manufacturer that contaminated the groundwater table with perchlorate. It is responsible for testing area wells and devising a clean water program for impacted water users.

The old Olin factory is at Tennant and Railroad avenues in Morgan Hill. The company is only testing wells south of the closed factory site for the jet fuel and flare ingredient.

Gilroy water officials do not believe the new detection will impact city wells, even though two city wells exist near Holsclaw and Gilman roads. All eight city wells have been tested monthly since February. To date none has shown perchlorate contamination.

The more wells that pop up, though, sure isnt a good thing, said Dan Aldridge, water operations supervisor for Gilroy. Well continue to monitor this monthly.

It is possible the new detection spot is independent of the plume.

There are a lot of sources of perchlorate and we dont know all the former uses of the land out there, DiMarco said.

The new detection spot is east of Llagas Creek, near the Syngenta property. Syngenta is a worldwide agribusiness company and seeds producer. It is unknown if the contaminated well is at the Syngenta site since officials from the local plant and at headquarters did not return phone calls before deadline.

Perchlorate is used in the manufacture of jet fuel, flares and fertilizer. Its health risk is still unclear and state and federal testing is under way. At some exposure levels, perchlorate is known to cause thyroid problems and some tumors in humans. What is not known is the levels at which exposure becomes a danger.

The action level for perchlorate was lowered in 2002 by the state from 18 ppb to 4 ppb. Wells in Morgan Hill, San Martin and Gilroy have shown contamination levels from 4 ppb to 100 ppb.]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/5957 Wed, 21 May 2003 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/5957
Starting today, the Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority, which is installing a drinking water pipeline down Hillside Avenue between Wyle Labs and Norco High School, will test for contaminants where construction takes place. It's proper procedure for the safety of pipeline workers, Eldon Horst, executive manager of the authority, said by phone.

The authority will bore only as deep as the pipeline, testing soil and possibly water for hazardous chemicals such as trichloroethene, vinyl chloride, dichloroethene and perchlorate, all of which have been found in the groundwater at Wyle. The results are expected back in about five days, Horst said.

The Corona-Norco school board on Tuesday said it would like to see the water board expedite its plans to test groundwater in the area. Board member Carole Garlind recommended lobbying legislators and regulatory agencies, "to show that we need something done because of our possibly at-risk students."

The Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board has directed Wyle to begin testing in the neighborhood to determine if harmful chemicals are flowing off the property and into people's yards. ]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/5958 Mon, 19 May 2003 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/5958
The Preventing Perchlorate Pollution Act would require the federal Environmental Protection Agency to set a maximum contaminant level drinking water standard for the chemical by July 1, 2004, which is at least two years ahead of the agencys current timeline.

The bill would also require enhanced community access to information about perchlorate, including details on its transport, release and storage.

Perchlorate has infiltrated wells in my district, and I am as deeply concerned as many of my constituents are, said U.S. Rep. Mike Honda (D-San Jose), who represents Gilroy and with Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose) was among the bills 19 cosponsors. The EPA and the Bush Administration need to step up efforts on the federal front so we can find out just how dangerous this toxin is, where (it) has infiltrated and establish policy to streamline cleanups.

Boxer introduced a bill in March that would require a federal standard on a similar timeline. The current state advisory level is 4 parts per billion, although a state senator has also introduced a bill requiring a state standard by the new year.

Perchlorate is a by-product from the manufacture of flares, matches, fireworks and, in larger amounts, solid rocket fuel.

A plume of the chemical has spread from an old Olin Corp. highway flare factory in Morgan Hill and contaminated several municipal wells in Morgan Hill, as well as hundreds of private wells south of the city. It has also been found in the Colorado River and Lake Mead as well as communities in the Sacramento and Inland Empire areas.

According to the California EPA, scientific studies have suggested perchlorate can disrupt thyroid hormone production. Inhibited thyroid function can result in hypothyroidism and in rare cases, thyroid tumors.

Sensitive populations include pregnant women, children and people who have health problems or compromised thyroid conditions.]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/5959 Mon, 19 May 2003 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/5959
A test of a private well in Bourne found levels of perchlorate a chemical used in explosives that has been shown to interfere with thyroid function and cause birth defects nearly twice the state's safety standard.

The state on Monday will send letters to other Bourne neighbors of the Massachusetts Military Reservation informing them of the test results and asking for permission to test all private wells.

"From our point of view, there is contamination out there," said John Fitzgerald, director of the state Department of Environmental Protection's division of response and remediation. "But we don't believe there is an immediate need for concern."

The Boston Globe obtained a May 13 "notice of responsibility" in which the state directed the Army to provide bottled water to the affected residents and either connect their homes to a public water supply or install water treatment systems in their homes.

The Army is considering its response.

"We do not know whether the well contamination is connected with the impact area," said Ben Gregson, the Army's technical program manager for the area. "It's a difficult situation."

The 21,000-acre military reservation located in parts of four Cape Cod towns, is a federal Superfund site. It has been used for military training since 1911 but sits on the region's primary aquifer which provides water to more than 280,000 year-round residents.

Half of the public wells in Bourne were shut down last spring after trace amounts of perchlorate were found in the town's water supply. The Army has since drilled hundreds of test wells trying to track the perchlorate plumes.

But no action to contain or clean up the contamination has taken place as agencies argue over how much perchlorate is acceptable in drinking water. The state's standard of one part per billion is lower than the federal standard of between 4 and 18 ppb.

The Bourne Water District has scheduled a public meeting on Tuesday to update residents about what is being done to address the test findings, but there won't be much to say because the Army has not yet accepted responsibility, said district manager Ralph Marks. ]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/5960 Sat, 17 May 2003 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/5960
Santa Clarita leaders called the discovery of perchlorate on the far western edge of the hilly property "astonishing" and said it could complicate the cleanup and development of the 996-acre Saugus property near the Santa Clarita Metrolink Station on Soledad Canyon Road.

It is the highest concentration of perchlorate discovered to date at the former factory, where several companies filled orders from the U.S. military for everything from dynamite to missiles for several decades, officials said.

The data were taken from five 1,600-foot wells drilled last year by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers below an area known as Burn Valley, where munitions tests were conducted.

"We may have hit one of the sources of the pollution," said Sara Amir, the chief of the Southern California Cleanup Operations branch of the Department of Toxic Substances Control, which is overseeing the mapping effort.

Perchlorate has been shown to interfere with thyroid function and pose a danger to the development of infants in concentrations as low as 1 part per billion, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The Army Corps of Engineers is mapping the pollution plume in the Saugus Aquifer where five municipal wells have already been shut down. The $3.5 million effort was paid for by the federal government.

"We haven't yet found the leading edge of the plume," said Ken Baez, the DTSC project manager. "We're still learning how large this animal is."

Four municipal wells were shut down in 1997 after tests revealed the water contained as much as 45 parts per billion of perchlorate, while another was capped last year. The wells are about a mile away from Burn Valley, Baez said.

The tests also revealed that the water contained volatile organic chemicals and other toxins, Baez said.

While additional samples will be collected from the wells during the next month, initial results indicate that the plume is thinner than officials originally expected, but the toxin is more concentrated in the water, Baez said.

Tests in another area of the property revealed perchlorate more than 200 feet below the surface in concentrations as high as 6,000 parts per billion. That location was chosen for investigation because engines were once refurbished there, Baez said.

Local water agency officials and the DTSC are working to develop a plan to clean up the water via a pump-and-treat program that would restore the capped wells to service and slowly rid the Saugus Aquifer of the toxic chemical.

The DTSC is waiting for more data before approving such a treatment system, for fear pumping could spread the contamination, Baez said.

Santa Clarita Valley residents use a combination of groundwater and water imported from Northern California by the Castaic Lake Water Agency. In the event of a drought, residents would be forced to rely on water in the Saugus Aquifer.

While the California Department of Health Services requires that wells with more than 4 parts per billion of perchlorate be shut down, the state Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment has found that water with as much as 6 parts per billion is safe to drink.

State law requires officials to begin enforcing a perchlorate standard for drinking water by Jan. 1. That progress is ongoing, officials said. ]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/5863 Mon, 12 May 2003 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/5863
The study could have helped federal officials calculate the potential health risks of perchlorate for humans, especially newborns, the Press-Enterprise of Riverside reported Sunday.

Perchlorate is an oxygen-rich chemical that interferes with the way the body takes iodide into the thyroid and can disrupt how the gland regulates metabolism. It is unclear how much is dangerous.

Col. Dan Rogers, who headed the Air Force research, said testing vegetables and fruits remains a priority.

In an e-mail, he blamed failure to complete the study on a lack of financial support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Across the nation, millions of people eat winter lettuce and other vegetables grown with water from the lower Colorado River, much of which is contaminated with perchlorate.

Earlier research had shown that lettuce can absorb perchlorate from irrigation water, but the government never confirmed whether the chemical could be found in commercial produce.

The Air Force received $500,000 in 1999 to study both the amount of perchlorate in crops such as lettuce, as well as the amount found in wild plants and animals.

Instead of completing research on America's table crops, the Air Force focused on wildlife. It asked if perchlorate can be found in cactus mice, mosquito fish, Bermuda grass and other plants located near defense facilities contaminated with perchlorate, according to federal records obtained by the newspaper.

The crop study was shelved indefinitely.

Some environmentalists said placing such research in the hands of the military created a conflict of interest because the military used perchlorate in rocket fuel and could face billions of dollars in cleanup costs.

''They have a very vested interest in the outcome of this research,'' said Renee Sharp, an analyst with the Washington-based Environmental Working Group, which has been following the perchlorate issue.

The Pentagon says humans can tolerate up to 200 parts per billion of the chemical in drinking water. The EPA is drafting guidelines that put that level between 4 and 18 parts per billion and is considering even lower levels.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., is sponsoring legislation to require the EPA to set a standard for perchlorate in drinking water next year, two years ahead of the agency's schedule.

In the wake of recent private tests, the Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration now say they will conduct a crop study.]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/5864 Sun, 11 May 2003 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/5864
A study completed in June 2001 found the chemical perchlorate in soil, sediment, plants and animals at six areas around the nation, from Yuma and Lake Mead to the banks of the Potomac River in Maryland.

Researchers concluded that perchlorate is entering nature's food chain and that plants had the highest concentrations often higher than amounts found in soil or water. The study did not determine how the perchlorate affected the plants and animals.

The habitat research and a study of food crops grown with perchlorate-contaminated Colorado River water were to split $500,000 in Pentagon funds. But the habitat research consumed all the money, and the food study was never completed.

Such a study would help federal and state regulators who are trying to establish limits for perchlorate in drinking water.

"We try to account for the total exposure that a person would get in food and drinking water," said Allan Hirsch, a spokesman for California's Office of Environmental Health Hazards Assessment. His office is developing a public health goal for perchlorate that will guide state efforts to establish drinking water standards.

Without much science to go on, the state office estimated food might account for 20 percent of the perchlorate the public consumes. But if perchlorate is found to be widespread in food, it could prompt the state to lower its public health goal for the chemical, he said. The state currently is proposing a public health goal of 2 to 6 parts per billion in drinking water.

For the habitat study, researchers gathered 965 samples of insects, algae, cactus, deer mice, quail and other birds, mosquito fish, alfalfa, mesquite, grass and soil at six sites studied. Those sites included locations along the lower Colorado River from Palo Verde to Yuma, and in the Las Vegas wash that empties into Lake Mead. The lower Colorado River contains 4 to 9 parts per billion of perchlorate.

The chemical was found in many samples, including alfalfa grown in the Palo Verde area near Blythe. The amounts detected ranged from a few to thousands of parts per billion.

The alfalfa sample near Palo Verde, for example, contained 1,010 parts per billion of perchlorate. One sample of Bermuda grass in the Las Vegas wash had 90,000 parts per billion. ]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/5778 Mon, 05 May 2003 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/5778
"This week's revelations have suggested that the situation could be even worse than previously thought, as perchlorate may have been absorbed into produce that was irrigated with perchlorate contaminated water," wrote Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and two other Democratic senators.

Boxer, Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman and Nevada Sen. Harry Reid sent the letter Thursday to the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, demanding the agency provide more information about the health risks of perchlorate, a chemical found in rocket fuel.

Most contaminated sites lie near military bases or defense-contracting facilities that made rocket fuel or explosives.

The issue came to a head last week after the Environmental Working Group found that four out of 22 samples of lettuce purchased in northern California contained perchlorate. The lettuce was grown around Imperial County and Fort Yuma, Ariz., where farms pull water from the Colorado River, which is known to contain perchlorate leaking from a manufacturing plant upstream in Henderson, Nev. The vast majority of lettuce on store shelves now, however, was grown in the Salinas Valley, where growers use local water. Eric Lauritzen, Monterey County agricultural commissioner, said there is no perchlorate threat here.

The EPA had not seen the senators' letter yet and had no comment, spokeswoman Lisa Harrison said Friday. But the agency asked the National Academy of Sciences last month to make a new assessment of the health risks of perchlorate, she said.

"The EPA certainly takes perchlorate contamination very seriously," Harrison said.

Studies have shown perchlorate can cause thyroid problems in adults and also harm the development of children. Perchlorate has been found in drinking water throughout the West, especially in California, where 426 contaminated water sources have been reported, according to the state's Department of Health Services.

Over the past few months, lawmakers have unleashed a torrent of letters to the EPA and Defense Department asking what are safe levels of perchlorate in food and water and what is the military doing to clean up the contaminants. ]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/5779 Tue, 29 Apr 2003 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/5779
For six months of the year, 70 percent of the nations lettuce comes from areas around Yuma, Ariz., and Californias Imperial Valley that are irrigated by the Colorado River.

Perchlorate has leaked into the Colorado River from Clark County ground water.

The Oakland-based Environmental Working Group found perchlorate in four of 22 lettuce samples purchased in the Bay Area in January and February.

The four positive samples had more than 30 parts per billion of the pollutant. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has set a preliminary safety level of one part per billion of perchlorate in water.

And recent tests by the Press-Enterprise of Riverside, Calif., found perchlorate in 18 of 18 lettuce samples, at an average of eight parts per billion.

Representatives for both Safeway and Raleys said the lettuce in their stores now come from the Salinas area, where there have been no reports of perchlorate in the water.

We have not purchased lettuce from that area since April 1, said Caroline Conrad, Raleys communications manager.

Safeway Vice President of Public Affairs Brian Dowling said theres been a seasonal shift of lettuce harvesting to the Salinas area.

Dowling said the Food and Drug Administration is studying the perchlorate issue and made no decision that it is a significant health threat.

We are more prone to wait for their judgment on whether or not there is an issue here, Dowling said. If there is, the industry will react one way or another.

California growers also are waiting for the results of testing. They stressed that the Environmental Working Group study tested only a small sample of lettuce and that it might not be representative.

This is a time when sound science should drive the debate, said Matt McInerny, executive vice president of the trade group Western Growers Association.

Noting that perchlorate contamination is actually a water quality issue, McInerny said that the government needs to give the industry guidance on how to deal with the problem.

The state of Nevada does not routinely test food for the presence of possible contaminants including perchlorate, said Martha Fransted, Nevada State Health Division spokeswoman. In fact, the state laboratory cannot test specifically for perchlorate, Fransted said.

The state does test when it receives a report of illness possibly caused by food. It could test for perchlorate by sending the food to the FDA or another laboratory, she said.

The state lab wants to improve its testing capabilities to include perchlorate, but the process would detect the chemical in water, not food, she said.

Perchlorate has been used in munitions and rocket fuel manufacturing in Clark County since the late 1940s and early 1950s, said Allen Biaggi, administrator of the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection.

Through their historic disposal process, there has been significant contamination in the ground water and that has made its way to the Las Vegas Wash, Biaggi said. From there the perchlorate made it into the Colorado River system all the way to the Mexican border.

Theres also significant perchlorate contamination in Southern California caused by the military and space industries, Biaggi said. He knew of no perchlorate contamination on the Colorado River upstream from Las Vegas.

Perchlorate appears naturally in some places and also turns up in fertilizer, Biaggi said.

Four years ago, his department required Kerr McGee Chemical Corp. and PEPCON, the two companies that produced the perchlorate in Clark County, to begin what Biaggi called an aggressive cleanup effort.

They have been pretty successful so far, resulting in decrease of (perchlorate) load by 50 percent, Biaggi said. Efforts continue to capture the other half, he added.

Its very easy to put contamination in place, Biaggi said. It can take a long, long time to clean up. We dont have an estimate on how long it will take for the clean up at this point.]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/5668 Mon, 28 Apr 2003 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/5668
Tests sponsored by the Environmental Working Group suggest Colorado River water used for irrigation carries the chemical to the plants, where it concentrates in the leaves.

The group billed the report as the first hard evidence that shows consumers are being exposed to levels of perchlorate above proposed government standards for drinking water through the produce they buy in supermarkets. The lettuce for the study was purchased in Northern California grocery stores.

"This is a problem," said Renee Sharp, the analyst who authored the report. "We shouldnt be eating rocket fuel in our lettuce."

Four of 22 lettuce samples tested positive for the chemical, according to the report.

The average positive lettuce sample contained 72 parts per billion of perchlorate, according to the study. By comparison, the state of California is considering a drinking water perchlorate standard of two to six parts per billion.

Harmful levels of the chemical, however, are thought to be much higher.

Test results on Colorado River water flowing to the Imperial and Coachella valleys range from nine parts per billion down to below detectable levels.

Growers in Imperial County and around Yuma, Ariz., produce the vast majority of the nations winter lettuce and depend on the river for irrigation.

Farmers in Imperial County used the river to produce $123 million worth of lettuce in 2001, according to the areas farm bureau.

Coachella Valley growers produced a lettuce crop worth $22.6 million in the same year, much of it with Colorado River water.

John Powell Jr., chief financial officer of Peter Rabbit Farms in Coachella, said fear of crops grown with Colorado River water could be more damaging than trace amounts of chemicals in food.

"The fear that I have is that it will impact peoples food buying and consumption decisions," Powell said.

The group presumed the lettuce in the study was irrigated with Colorado River water. The lettuce in question was bought in January and February, a time when the authors said 88 percent of the nations lettuce comes from the deserts of Imperial and Yuma counties. The authors acknowledged in the report they couldnt be certain of how the lettuce was irrigated.

Some scientists also questioned whether the test results were conclusive and worried the data would unnecessarily upset consumers. "If this issue did get out of hand, it could impoverish our region," said Charles Sanchez, a scientist at the University of Arizonas Yuma Research Center. "Until I get some more data, I dont know how big of a problem it could be."

Sanchez is conducting his own study of crops irrigated with contaminated water and will include research in the Coachella Valley.

Bob Krieger, a toxicologist at University of California, Riverside, questioned whether the Oakland group extrapolated too much from their latest test results. "We have numbers, we create uncertainty about some sort of health impact and the public doesnt know what the hell to think," said

Krieger, who criticized the interpretation of earlier studies in labs in which lettuce wilted after absorbing perchlorate from heavily contaminated water. "I certainly wouldnt change my eating habits," he said.

High doses of perchlorate have been shown to the impair thyroid activity of laboratory rats, according to reports by the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA also says pregnant women and babies are especially vulnerable to thyroid problems, which can lead to reduced learning capacity in newborns and delayed development of fetuses.

State and federal governments are now crafting new drinking water standards to account for the chemical.

But the group behind the lettuce study argues efforts should be broadened to encompass food. "The stuff is present in more places than people think it is," said Purnendu Dasgupta, a Texas Tech scientist who analyzed the Oakland lettuce.

Most of the perchlorate manufactured in the United States is used as the primary ingredient of solid rocket propellant. The chemical has appeared in groundwater around Los Angeles and in more than 20 other states.

The site of a defunct perchlorate factory near Henderson, Nev., is responsible for sending as much as 700 pounds per day into nearby Lake Mead, according to the EPA. The reservoir feeds the lower Colorado River and thus provides drinking water to Los Angeles and San Diego, among other places, and crop irrigation throughout the Southwest.

The Henderson site was active since the 1940s. But perchlorate wasnt added to the EPAs list of chemicals considered for regulation until 1998.]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/5669 Mon, 28 Apr 2003 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/5669
The environmental group that paid for the testing by Texas Tech University conceded that the sample was far too small to draw any definite conclusions about how much perchlorate is in the lettuce Americans eat. But the organization, the Environmental Working Group, said the results were alarming enough to warrant a broad examination by the Food and Drug Administration.

"It appears perchlorate in produce is reaching consumers, which should be a wake-up call for the FDA," said Bill Walker, a western representative in the group's Oakland, Calif., office. "A lot of people might look at this and say it was only four out of 22 what is the problem? Well, when nearly one in five samples of a common produce item are contaminated with a chemical component of rocket fuel, that's significant."

In response, FDA officials said they had been planning to begin testing foods for perchlorate at a number of sites around the United States but still were developing the scientific methods to do it.

"We do understand that there is a potential for perchlorate from irrigation water to end up in food," said Terry Troxell, the director of the FDA's office of plant and dairy foods and beverages. "We have already been moving in this area. We will certainly take their results into account."

The four lettuce samples all contained substantial quantities of perchlorate. One, a prepackaged variety of organic mixed baby greens, had a level of perchlorate contamination at least 20 times as high as the amount California now considers safe for drinking water. The other three were packaged butter lettuce and radicchio, romaine lettuce and radicchio and a plain head of iceberg lettuce. All were at least five times as high as California considers safe for water.

State and federal environmental officials think that perchlorate, a salt widely used by the U.S. government to help power missiles and the space shuttle, might cause health problems, even in trace amounts. Because it is known to affect the production of thyroid hormones, which are critical to early brain development, researchers think perchlorate exposure might be especially dangerous for pregnant women and young children.

But the Pentagon and defense contractors, who together produced most of the nation's perchlorate, dispute those conclusions, saying their scientists think it poses a health threat only in doses dozens of times higher.

No state or federal agency has set any enforceable health standards for perchlorate in water and food. However, several are developing them, including the California Department of Health Services and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Agriculture groups, which note that the perchlorate in produce is thought to come from the water that farmers use to irrigate crops, not from pesticides, urged swift government action.

"This is a problem. It's not one we created, but it's one we are concerned about. We want the leading regulatory agencies to address this problem as soon as possible," said Hank Giclas, a vice president of the Western Growers Association, whose members grow, pack and ship 90 percent of the fresh vegetables and 70 percent of the fresh fruit and nuts in California and Arizona. "In the meantime, we want people to continue eating fruits and vegetables."

The EPA declined to make any of its perchlorate experts available to discuss the Environmental Working Group's findings, which they were permitted to review. A statement released by the agency's headquarters said that the EPA would not comment further on the contaminant until the National Academy of Sciences completes an independent peer review it is conducting of EPA's work to date on perchlorate and human health.

The nationwide price tag of perchlorate cleanup could be in the tens of millions, and possibly even billions, of dollars, according to water officials and other experts, who say it has the potential to dwarf California's problems with MTBE, a gasoline additive that tainted groundwater supplies.

Perchlorate, which is highly soluble, has been detected in water supplies in California and at least 19 other states, usually near defense contractors or military bases. The Colorado River, which supplies drinking water to about 15 million people in the southwestern United States, contains perchlorate that leached from the site of a former rocket-fuel factory in Nevada.

Environmental groups have warned that perchlorate might be widely present in vegetables, because countless crops are irrigated with water from the same tainted sources. ]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/5670 Mon, 28 Apr 2003 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/5670
The environmental group that paid for the testing by Texas Tech University conceded that the sample was far too small to draw any definite conclusions about how much perchlorate is in the lettuce Americans eat. But the organization, the Environmental Working Group, said the results were alarming enough to warrant a broad examination by the Food and Drug Administration.

"It appears perchlorate in produce is reaching consumers, which should be a wake-up call for the FDA," said Bill Walker, a western representative in the group's Oakland, Calif., office. "A lot of people might look at this and say it was only four out of 22 what is the problem? Well, when nearly one in five samples of a common produce item are contaminated with a chemical component of rocket fuel, that's significant."

In response, FDA officials said they had been planning to begin testing foods for perchlorate at a number of sites around the United States, but were still developing the scientific methods to do it.

"We do understand that there is a potential for perchlorate from irrigation water to end up in food," said Terry Troxell, the director of the FDA's office of plant and dairy foods and beverages. "We have already been moving in this area. We will certainly take their results into account."

The four lettuce samples all contained substantial quantities of perchlorate. One, a prepackaged variety of organic mixed baby greens, had a level of perchlorate contamination at least 20 times as high as the amount California now considers safe for drinking water. The other three were packaged butter lettuce and radicchio, romaine lettuce and radicchio and a plain head of iceberg lettuce. All were at least five times as high as California considers safe for water.

State and federal environmental officials now believe that perchlorate, a salt widely used by the U.S. government to help power missiles and the space shuttle, may cause health problems, even in trace amounts. Because it is known to affect the production of thyroid hormones, which are critical to early brain development, researchers believe perchlorate exposure may be especially dangerous for pregnant women and young children.

But the Pentagon and defense contractors, who together produced most of the nation's perchlorate, dispute those conclusions, saying their scientists believe it poses a health threat only in doses dozens of times higher.

No state or federal agency has set any enforceable health standards for perchlorate in water and food. But several are now developing them, including the California Department of Health Services and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Agriculture groups, which note that the perchlorate in produce is believed to come from the water that farmers use to irrigate crops, not from pesticides, urged swift government action.

"This is a problem. It's not one we created, but it's one we are concerned about. We want the leading regulatory agencies to address this problem as soon as possible," said Hank Giclas, a vice president of the Western Growers Association, whose members grow, pack and ship 90 percent of the fresh vegetables and 70 percent of the fresh fruit and nuts in California and Arizona. "In the meantime, we want people to continue eating fruits and vegetables."

The EPA declined to make any of its perchlorate experts available to discuss the Environmental Working Group's findings.]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/5671 Mon, 28 Apr 2003 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/5671
In one of the first tests of perchlorate in supermarket produce, 18 percent of lettuce samples contained detectable levels of perchlorate, and an average serving of the contaminated samples contained four times more than the EPA says is safe in drinking water, said officials from the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a Washington, D.C., advocacy organization.

The EWG estimates that by eating lettuce, 1.6 million American women of childbearing age, a population of great concern, are exposed daily from October to March to more perchlorate than the EPA's recommended safe dose.

Perchlorate, which looks like table salt, is used in manufacturing rocket fuel and other explosives. Scientists have linked consumption of the toxic chemical to thyroid disorders. In fetuses, infants and children, disruptions in thyroid hormone levels can cause lowered IQ, mental retardation, loss of hearing and speech and motor skill deficits.

In January and February, the EWG brought 22 commercial lettuce samples for analysis by scientists at Texas Tech University at Lubbock. Samples included prepackage and head lettuces, adults and baby greens, organic and conventional lettuces from several different distributors. Four of the samples contained measurable levels of perchlorate: averaging 70 parts per billion, according to the study.

California has proposed what state officials consider a safe level of perchlorate of two to six parts per billion, and hope to set the nation's first standard on the chemical by 2004. The EPA's draft proposal is stricter at 1 part per billion.

"If the perchlorate levels in our samples are representative, exposure is not just a problem for people in areas where the water is contaminated," said Bill Walker, West Coast vice president of EWG. "It's a national concern for everyone who buys winter lettuce at the grocery store."

Walker said the study confirms previous tests on greenhouse-grown lettuce seedlings by the EPA and field-grown vegetables by a San Bernardino, Calif., farm where irrigation water supplies were contaminated by defense contractor Lockheed Martin's abandoned rocket-testing facility. The EWG's tests were from lettuce likely grown in Southern California or Arizona.

Dennis Downs, director of the Utah Division of Solid and Hazardous Wastes, said state and federal officials are unsure exactly how much risk perchlorate poses when ingested and what limits should be set for the chemical.

"We'll likely see some standards set," said Downs. "We're closely watching what California does, and we'll be interested to examine this new study."

The chemical has forced the shutdown of hundreds of wells in California, and high doses have been detected in the lower Colorado River, the main water source of 20 million people in California, Arizona and Nevada.

In Utah, three sources of underground water are known to have perchlorate contamination. The one from Hill Air Force Base is the target of a Superfund cleanup program.

The second, near Thiokol, west of Brigham City, is spreading south into an area where there are several ranches.

And the third, around Alliant Techsystems (formerly Hercules) facilities in West Valley City and Magna, has shown up in a few drinking wells in the Magna area but is negligible by the time it is mixed with water from other wells, officials have said.

The EWG is calling for cleanup of perchlorate contamination of the Colorado River; more testing for the toxic chemical in drinking water and irrigation sources; and stopping the Bush administration's proposal to exempt Department of Defense sites from environmental regulations that includes perchlorate cleanup. ]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/topics/overview/perchlorate Mon, 28 Apr 2003 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/topics/overview/perchlorate Perchlorate Perchlorate has been found in local drinking wells across the country in amounts that could be causing the slow spread of serious disease. Perchlorate is one of a newly recognized group of toxins called endocrine disrupters, which can alter hormonal balances and impede human reproduction and development.

The EPA, citing experiments on rats and epidemiological studies in Arizona and California, says perchlorate is dangerous in drinking water at levels above one part per billion. Most perchlorate plumes in the United States, including the Colorado River, range between four and 100 ppb.

As with other contentious toxins such as arsenic and lead, the more information EPA scientists learned about perchlorate, the more they worried about its effects. Their main concern focuses on changes found in the brain size of laboratory rat pups exposed to low doses of perchlorate in utero. Such changes in so-called brain morphometry indicate perchlorate's thyroid effects may cause permanent neurological damage in rats as well as people, because the thyroid system works similarly in both species.

To date, the EPA has identified 75 perchlorate releases in 22 states, including Arizona, Texas, Nebraska, Iowa, New York, Maryland and Massachusetts, as well as California. The Colorado River, the main water source for about 15 million homes across the Southwest, contains perchlorate at roughly seven parts per billion seven times the level that the EPA's National Center for Environmental Assessment says is safe.

Defense-industry dumping is suspected in nearly all these cases, though perchlorate has also been linked to fireworks and other explosives, automobile airbags and Chilean fertilizers. The EPA says it will take hundreds of years and cost several billion dollars to clean up the plumes.

The EPA study shows "strong evidence" of perchlorate's danger to infants. That study found California babies born to mothers exposed to trace amounts of perchlorate in drinking water had lower thyroid-hormone levels at birth than did infants of non-exposed moms. California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment recently used that study, and other human data, to derive its own "health goal" for perchlorate in drinking water of two ppb.

If you or a loved one suffered side effects from Perchlorate, please fill out the form at the right for a free case evaluation by a qualified pollutants attorney.

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