PERCHLORATE’S PREGNANT PAUSE
This is at odds with Cal-EPA’s take on the contaminant: the state agency recently lowered its action level from 18 ppb to 4 pbb in recognition of perchlorate’s toxicity. The federal EPA is also considering revising its own public health goal from 2 ppb to 1 ppb.
Joining the call for inaction is a lobby representing one of the greatest consumers of polluted Colorado River water: the agricultural industry. The Western Growers Association represents 90 percent of the fresh fruit and vegetable growers and shippers in Arizona and California. “We think that a standard in terms of a public health goal and, ultimately, an MCL is important,” says Hank Giclas, the association’s vice president of science and technology. “It’s important to California, but we also believe that that standard needs to be based on the best available science possible. We have faith that the National Academy of Sciences is going to bring to the table some additional information that should be considered by California. While we’re not advocating any kind of a delay, we are advocating the use of every piece of information possible in order to make the best decision for our state.”
The growers and chemical companies might do well to be careful what they wish for. Setting aside bad science from biased panels, the information already available is damning—and the information we don’t have is probably just as troublesome. One of the big unanswered questions regarding perchlorate is the current status of Department of Defense (DOD) sites across the state that have used the chemical. Nationwide, defense and aerospace industries buy more than 90 percent of the perchlorate produced annually—that’s 20 million pounds. Since DOD stopped its practice of open-detonation and burning of perchlorate-contaminated rocket engines as a means of disposal, the department’s inventory of perchlorate-containing propellant is expected to swell to over 164 million pounds by 2005.
Last summer, California’s nine regional water quality control boards requested DOD perchlorate data and sampling plans for the 71 military compounds and former defense sites across the state. To date, the water boards have received no information from DOD and may be required to issue notices and orders to unravel yet another missing piece of the perchlorate puzzle plaguing California.
In Pasadena, at least, JPL has stepped up to the plate. The 176-acre lab is in the midst of a $114 million EPA-mandated Superfund cleanup being carried out by the space agency. Last week, under the shadow of a $2 million lawsuit filed by the City of Pasadena in January over the cost of lost water resources, NASA unveiled an ambitious program to rid offsite wells of perchlorate. “NASA will make this right because we know we have a problem,” says Steve Slaten, JPL’s remedial project manager. “It will take years, maybe decades, and will add up to tens of millions of dollars before we are through.”
All the more reason for other agencies and companies to quit whining and start the clean-up process sooner rather than later.
