WASHINGTON (AP) — Two senior House Democrats on Wednesday challenged the Bush administration's decision to delay new environmental standards for reducing arsenic in the drinking water of millions of Americans.
In a letter to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christie Whitman, Reps. John Dingell of Michigan and Frank Pallone of New Jersey noted that Congress last year ordered the EPA to have the standards in place by June 22.
"Serious questions have been raised about the legality of your recent announcement, including its effect on the intent of Congress to have a new protective drinking water standard for arsenic," Dingell and Pallone wrote.
The new standards, developed by the Clinton administration but not published until two days after Bush took office, were to have taken effect March 23.
Whitman, however, announced three days before then that she was withdrawing them, saying there was not enough scientific evidence to justify the $200 million annual cost to municipalities, states and industry of meeting the new standards by 2006.
Dingell and Pallone asked Whitman for a detailed legal analysis why she doesn't have to meet the June 22 deadline.