Bush vs. rural America

Water safety rules will be more lax in rural areas 4

Has the White House declared war on farmers and ranchers?

The brunt of the Bush administration's rush to expand energy development in western states has been most directly borne by rural voters. Water-intensive gas-extraction procedures run ranchers' wells dry and expel water so salty it's toxic to crops. Gas compressor stations and their generators pump sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide into the air. Livestock drink from uncovered drip pans containing antifreeze and perish. "People can't believe this can happen to them until their own ox is gored," says Jill Morrison of Wyoming's Powder River Basin Resource Council, which works with rural communities facing environmental concerns.

If that wasn't stunning enough, now there's this, courtesy of The Washington Post ... in March the EPA proposed regulating drinking water quality differently in rural America than in the rest of the nation.

Bottom line: If you live in a community of less than 10,000 people, your water would be permitted to contain three times the level of arsenic as your counterparts in urban and suburban areas. (The proposal is open for public comment until May 1.)

The logic is that smaller communities have more trouble than other areas paying to update and repair water treatment systems. But isn't this a clear case where the federal government should step in to bridge the gap -- not shrink away?

Update: More on the EPA proposal here from Carl Pope, who notes that one community that would be at risk is Crawford, Texas.

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  1. David Roberts's avatar

    David Roberts Posted 4:48 pm
    03 Apr 2006

    Bush v. ruralCarl Pope makes a good point:"We're taking the position both public health protection and affordability can be achieved together," Benjamin Grumbles, assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Water, told the Washington Post: "When you're looking at small communities, oftentimes they cannot comply with the [current] standard." Well, both large and small communities often can't afford many public safety basics -- New Orleans certainly couldn't build its own levees. That, in part, is why we have a national government.

    www.grist.org
  2. amazingdrx Posted 2:26 am
    04 Apr 2006

    Yep Carl.The traditional conservative POV comes into play when the administration wants to cut spending (like subsidies to rural areas) and regulation, then the neoconservative POV comes to the fore when they want to outsource everything the government does to contractors, which is what has this debt soaring out of control.
    The old Reagan revolution saw is that government is inefficient, so let's save money by hiring contractors.  But for some reason that results in a huge increase in deficits, go figure.  
    400k per year to Black Water Security for one (contract) soldier versus 30k for one regular soldier.  A couple years back there were 20,000 contract soldiers, how many are there now?
    Another interesting point.  Since oil and gas leases have been negotiated at giveaway prices for bushco  oil industry cronies, where is the money coming from to fix the loss of groundwater?  
    And since contaminated groundwater is practically unfixable, isn't it worth more in the long run than sgort term profits for these cronies of the administration?  
    Water, the oil of this century.  Oil companies and agribizz interests are using it up by polluting it.  Then they will turn around and charge US to clean it up someday so we can drink it?  Using fossil and nuclear power no doubt.
    The contractors with america and their shills in government, the enemy from within that is destroying this nation.

    http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog
  3. jsmoller Posted 10:17 pm
    04 Apr 2006

    Arsenic regulation not affected by EPA proposalWhile EPA has proposed to revise the method by which drinking water regulations are deemed affordable for small communities, the proposed revisions would not affect current regulations, like the 10 part per billion (ppb) arsenic standard.
    Future regulations would be impacted by any changes to this "affordability methodology." More information can be found on EPA's website - http://www.epa.gov/safewater/smallsys/affordability.html - including a link to provide comment on the proposal.
    EPA is committed to protecting the public from exposure to arsenic in drinking water. Resources can be found at this URL - http://www.epa.gov/safewater/arsenic - including information on sources of funding for small communities.
    Jennifer Moller

    Environmental Scientist

    US Environmental Protection Agency

    (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

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  4. heatdeath Posted 1:52 am
    05 Apr 2006

    RE: Arsenic regulation not affected by EPA propMs. Moller - Perhaps you could explain how lowering the standard for how a variance is allowed does not affect that regulation?  That's not clear to me from your comments or from the EPA site.
    You imply that the 10 ppb standard is not affected, but what exactly does a variance mean then?  It seems to mean that a city will not have to meet the 10 ppb standard in their drinking water if it is determined to not be affordable.
    Witold

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