[GreenYes] Fwd: Arsenic-in-Water Update - Comments Due May 7! SEND EMAIL

[Gary Liss <gary@garyliss.com>]

>Date: Wed, 2 May 2001 14:21:36 +0800
>From: Save Our Environment <actioncenter@saveourenvironment.org>
>
>SAVE OUR ENVIRONMENT ACTION CENTER UPDATE
>
>By using the Save Our Environment Action Center
>[http://www.saveourenvironment.org], you are working
>together with the nation's most influential environmental
>advocacy groups in the crucial battles to protect our air
>and water, forests and oceans, climate, wilderness, and
>wildlife.
>
>May 2, 2001
>
>************************************************************
>The Bush administration has given the public an appallingly
>short time period -- 14 days! -- to officially be heard on
>its plan to yank the new rule that reduced the acceptable
>level of arsenic in our drinking water and re-open the issue
>to further study. Speak out now!
>
>To email an official comment, just reply to this message (do
>it today!).
>************************************************************
>
>On March 20th Environmental Protection Agency administrator
>Christie Whitman announced that the Bush administration
>would suspend the revised arsenic standard for drinking
>water issued by the outgoing Clinton administration in
>January. More than a month passed, however, until the EPA
>announced an official comment period concerning it's
>decision. To make matters worse, the agency is giving the
>public an almost unheard-of absurdly short timeframe (14
>days!) to speak out on this critical issue.
>
>The current U.S. arsenic-in-drinking-water standard of 50
>parts per billion (ppb) was set in 1942, before health
>officials knew that arsenic causes cancer. The revised rule
>would have lowered the acceptable arsenic level to 10 ppb,
>the same international standard adopted several years ago by
>the World Health Organization and the European Union.
>
>The National Academy of Sciences has determined that arsenic
>in water causes bladder, lung and skin cancer, and may cause
>kidney and liver cancer, birth defects and reproductive
>problems. Arsenic also harms the central nervous system and
>heart.
>
>Please send the EPA a message today. We've made it easy for
>you -- just reply to this email and we'll automatically
>email the message below to the EPA's official comment
>address. Or, if you prefer to send your own message, the
>address to use is ow-docket@epamail.epa.gov [please use
>"Arsenic Docket #W-99-16-IV" as your subject line].
>
>Once again, thanks for being part of the Save Our
>Environment activist network and for taking action to help
>preserve and protect the Earth's natural treasures and
>quality of life. Remember, you can increase the impact of
>your support by encouraging your family and friends to visit
>the Save Our Environment Action Center as well. We've made
>it easy for you with our "Tell a Friend" feature which
>allows you to send an electronic postcard right from the
>site.
>
>Save Our Environment Action Center --
>
>http://www.saveourenvironment.org/
>
>************************************************************
>Email message -- just reply to this email and we'll send
>this message to the official EPA comment address.
>
>Subject: Arsenic Docket #W-99-16-IV
>
>Water Docket (MC-410)
>U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
>1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
>Washington, DC  20460
>
>Dear Administrator Whitman and EPA staff,
>
>I strongly oppose your decision to suspend the new 10 parts
>per billion arsenic-in-drinking-water standard and re-open
>this issue to further study. The new standard was a result
>of more than a decade of scientific reviews, public
>hearings, and discussions with health experts and industry.
>In addition, the 10 ppb level is the international standard
>adopted several years ago by the World Health Organization
>and the European Union.
>
>Delaying implementation of the standard only serves to
>increase profits for polluters, such as the mining industry
>and other corporate interests, at the expense of the
>public's health. I urge you to reverse your decision and
>immediately implement the 10 ppb standard. If you do decide
>to re-open this issue for further study, however, you should
>adopt an even stronger standard (3 ppb), not a weaker one.
>
>Sincerely,
>
>[your name and address]
>
>
>
>
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Gary Liss
916-652-7850
Fax: 916-652-0485