Photo: Lois Barber
May 2016 - The EPA is currently seeking approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for new regulations called Protective Action Guides that would increase acceptable levels of radioactivity in drinking water dozens to hundreds of times higher than those set by the Safe Drinking Water Act. The radioactivity could be from a nuclear bomb, a transport accident, or incident at a nuclear power plant, weapons facility, or other site. These proposed changes come from pressure from the nuclear power industry and are contrary to results from recent health studies.
If accepted, the proposed new Guides would force the public to use contaminated water (possibly for years) containing dangerous levels of radioactivity before corrective action would be mandated from the polluters or the government. In addition to being terrifying, these new Guides would set a dangerous precedent to weaken other radiation standards.
Contact Shaun Donovan, Secretary, OMB
Postal address: 725 17th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20503
Telephone: 202 395 4840
Website: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb
Email: [email protected]
Action
Tell Secretary Donovan to reject the EPA’s proposed increases in acceptable radioactivity levels for drinking water in nuclear emergencies. Similar increases were proposed in the last months of the Bush Administration but stopped during the transition to the Obama administration. The same troubling changes (supported by the nuclear power industry) are now being proposed during the last months of the Obama administration. They should be stopped again.
Please also send a message to President Obama who oversees the OMB: https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact
More info: Nuclear Information & Resource Service: http://org2.salsalabs.com/o/5502/t/0/blastContent.jsp?email_blast_KEY=1357731
Photo: Lois Barber
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