So long, and thanks for all the fish....
Beach Closings and Advisories Rose in 2005, Council Reports The number of closings and health advisory days at beaches across the United States increased by about 5 percent in 2005 from 2004, according to a report released Thursday by the Natural Resources Defense Council. ... The council also filed a lawsuit against the E.P.A. on Thursday, in conjunction with its annual report on beaches, saying the current clean water standards were outdated. The council said the agency had failed to devise new standards as required by Congress in the Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health Act, passed in 2000. The law included instructions for the agency to update public health standards and the way it tests for pollution in coastal areas by October 2005.“They’re years behind,” said Nancy Stoner, director of the council’s Clean Water Project. “I’m trying to get them on a schedule to do what Congress told them to do,” she said.
Ms. Stoner said the outdated federal standards were focused largely on testing for bacterial contamination and did not track pollutants like cryptosporidium, which she said caused widespread contamination of drinking water in Milwaukee in 1993.
Thanks, GWB. Your legacy will linger on the beaches of the world, and in our bodies.
Tags: environment, /EPA
