[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 635 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 635

         To reinstate a standard for arsenic in drinking water.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 27, 2001

   Mr. Dodd introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
       referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
         To reinstate a standard for arsenic in drinking water.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Arsenic Standard Reinstatement 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) in 1996, Congress amended the Safe Drinking Water Act 
        (42 U.S.C. 300f et seq.) to require the Administrator of the 
        Environmental Protection Agency to revise the standard for 
        arsenic in drinking water;
            (2) after conducting scientific and economic analyses, the 
        Administrator, on January 22, 2001, promulgated a final rule to 
        reduce the public health risks from arsenic in drinking water 
        by reducing the permissible level of arsenic from 50 parts per 
        billion (.05 milligrams per liter) to 10 parts per billion (.01 
        milligrams per liter);
            (3) the new standard would provide additional protection 
        against cancer and other health problems for 13,000,000 people;
            (4) the National Academy of Sciences has determined that 
        drinking water containing 50 parts per billion of arsenic 
        ``could easily'' result in a 1-in-100 risk of cancer;
            (5) 50 parts per billion of arsenic causes a cancer risk 
        that is 10,000 times the level of any cancer risk caused by any 
        carcinogen that the Environmental Protection Agency permits to 
        be present in food;
            (6) 10 parts per billion of arsenic in drinking water is 
        the standard used by the European Union, Japan, and the World 
        Health Organization;
            (7) public water systems may apply for financial assistance 
        through the drinking water State revolving loan fund under 
        section 1452 of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300j-
        12);
            (8) since 1996, the revolving loan fund program has made 
        $3,600,000,000 available to assist public water systems with 
        projects to improve infrastructure; and
            (9) on March 20, 2001, Administrator of the Environmental 
        Protection Agency proposed to withdraw the pending arsenic 
        standard that was promulgated on January 22, 2001, and due to 
        take effect on March 23, 2001.

SEC. 3. REINSTATEMENT OF FINAL RULE.

    (a) In General.--On and after the date of enactment of this Act, 
the final rule promulgated by the Administrator of the Environmental 
Protection Agency entitled ``Arsenic and Clarifications to Compliance 
and New Source Contaminants Monitoring'' (66 Fed. Reg. 6976 (January 
22, 2001)), and the amendments to parts 9, 141, and 142 of title 40, 
Code of Federal Regulations, made by that rule, shall have full force 
and effect.
    (b) Maximum Contaminant Level.--The maximum contaminant level for 
arsenic in drinking water of .01 milligrams per liter established by 
the final rule described in subsection (a) shall not be subject to 
revision except by Act of Congress.
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