Rocket fuel chemical contaminates water; EPA sits on ass

Perchlorate is a chemical used in solid rocket fuel. If consumed excessively by humans, it poses a serious threat to thyroid function. Drinking water of 11,000,000 Americans is contaminated by the chemical.

The states counted on the EPA to limit the amount of perchlorate in drinking water. Trace amounts of perchlorate occur naturally (like when lightning strikes water), but the bulk of it is from pollution. But relying on an EPA staffed by Bush cronies to help clean up the environment would be like if Congress had relied on the Mafia to help write RICO.

True to form, an EPA official told a Senate committee this week that there "is a distinct possibility" that the EPA won't even bother to regulate how much perchlorate goes into our water. This announcement follows years of waiting by the states. California finally grew so impatient with the EPA's inaction last year that it set its own rules.

Environmental regulation is weaker in other states though. In an unrelated incident, a small town in the South that has under 300 people has 80 cancer patients, because the state didn't tell folks a chemical plant was leaking. Big Business seems to use some of the poorest communities in America and other countries as silage for their most hazardous activities.

(Source: http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/nationworld/story/354069.html)