When it comes to protecting the environment and human health, the difference between what the Obama Administration portends and what the Bush Administration wrought may reside in the difference between three little words: “yes, we can” versus “no we won’t.” How and when Lisa Jackson, President-elect Obama’s pick to head the EPA, tackles perchlorate will be an early indicator of whether the difference between Bush and Obama will be as dramatic as environmentalists and public health advocates hope. Perchlorate, a chemical found in rocket fuel and munitions, has contaminated at unsafe levels the drinking water of 16.6 million Americans, according to the EPA. Perchlorate blocks the uptake of iodide into thyroid. This is particularly bad during pregnancy and for breastfeeding mothers, because iodide is essential to proper fetal and infant brain development. If fetuses and breastfeeding babies don’t get the iodide they need, permanent mental issues result, such as ADHD, lower verbal intelligence quotient, lower overall IQ, and lower motor performance.
For years, the Department of Defense, which, together with the rest of the aerospace sector, accounts for approximately 90 percent of U.S. consumption of perchlorate, has labored to block any regulation of the chemical. Indeed, its efforts have been so effective that, in October, EPA suggested limiting the amount of perchlorate in water to 15 parts per billion – significantly back-pedaling from its 2002 recommendation of 1 part per billion. As CPR Policy Analyst Matt Shudtz pointed out on this blog, the fun-and-games have only continued since, with EPA’s Inspector General issuing a report in December asserting that yet more study of perchlorate was needed, thus again delaying action.
While it is easy to point fingers at the Bush Administration, Lisa Jackson’s tenure as head of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection reveals a record of delay on perchlorate as well. As a recent ProPublica article pointed out, a panel of state scientists urged New Jersey to regulate perchlorate in 2005. Jackson’s former department never took decisive action.
At Jackson’s confirmation hearing on Wednesday, Senator Barbara Boxer asked Jackson about regulating perchlorate. Jackson said she “would commit the EPA ‘to immediately review the threat to human health.’" Senator Boxer, who has long called for EPA action on perchlorate, seemed satisfied with this answer. Let’s hope when Jackson says “immediate review” she means immediate action, not just more study. Lisa Jackson, do you plan to regulate perchlorate and keep our drinking water safe? We’re expecting a resounding "yes."
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Shana Campbell Jones | January 23, 2009
When it comes to protecting the environment and human health, the difference between what the Obama Administration portends and what the Bush Administration wrought may reside in the difference between three little words: “yes, we can” versus “no we won’t.” How and when Lisa Jackson, President-elect Obama’s pick to head the EPA, tackles perchlorate will […]
Margaret Clune Giblin | January 22, 2009
Former President George W. Bush departed for Dallas on Tuesday, but his pervasive legacy remains here in Washington. In a prior post here on CPRblog, I wrote about one of the Bush Administration’s “midnight regulations,” which collectively stamped the most recent of the Bush imprints on public policy. In its proposed changes to the interagency […]
Matthew Freeman | January 21, 2009
Editor’s Note: Following is the second of several posts focused on federal preemption issues and featuring CPR Member Scholars Thomas McGarity and William Buzbee. In December, both published books on the issue. (The first blog post in the series includes some background on the issue.) McGarity’s book is The Preemption War: When Federal Bureaucracies Trump […]
Holly Doremus | January 20, 2009
Editor’s Note: With the Bush Administration’s remaining time in office now measured in hours, we asked CPR Member Scholars to remind us of some of the less publicized moments of the Administration’s record on environmental issues. Following is the fourth of several entries published before President Bush returns to Texas. In this one, Holly Doremus […]
Joe Feller | January 20, 2009
Editor’s Note: With the Bush Administration’s remaining time in office now measured in hours, we asked CPR Member Scholars to remind us of some of the less publicized moments of the Administration’s record on environmental issues. Following is the third of several entries that we’ll run on CPRBlog before President Bush returns to Texas. Below, […]
Dale Goble | January 19, 2009
Editor’s Note: With the Bush Administration’s remaining time in office now measured in hours, we asked CPR Member Scholars to remind us of some of the less publicized moments of the Administration’s record on environmental issues. Following is the second of several entries that we’ll run on CPRBlog before President Bush returns to Texas. Below, […]
A. Dan Tarlock | January 19, 2009
Editor’s Note: With the Bush Administration’s remaining time in office now measured in hours, we asked CPR Member Scholars to remind us of some of the less publicized moments of the Administration’s record on environmental issues. Following is the first of several entries that we’ll run on CPRBlog before President Bush returns to Texas. A. […]
A. Dan Tarlock | January 18, 2009
Editor’s Note: With the Bush Administration’s remaining time in office now measured in hours, we asked CPR Member Scholars to remind us of some of the less publicized moments of the Administration’s record on environmental issues. Following is the first of several entries that we’ll run on CPRBlog before President Bush returns to Texas. A. […]
Matthew Freeman | January 16, 2009
Within the last 45 days, CPR Member Scholars have published two books focused on the question of federal preemption. The issue has arisen in two forms in recent years. During the Bush Administration, various regulatory agencies of the federal government – with leadership from Bush appointees – sought to use federal regulations to undercut citizens’ […]