Selenium gained national attention and federal regulation during the 1980s after causing mass deformities of waterfowl in California's Central Valley. Now it is back in the news, with a report that the Bush administration is planning to relax government regulation of this toxic substance.
Draft criteria for new selenium standards were published last month in the Federal Register, and EPA is currently soliciting scientific data and information on the proposed changes. New standards could be finalized within a few months, according to a recent article in the Sacramento Bee.
Selenium is a naturally occurring metal, but is also discharged into waterways by power companies, farms, and mining operations. Health effects for humans, according to the EPA, can include kidney and liver damage, and damage to the circulatory and nervous system. [1]
Environmentalists and government scientists alike are wary of the administration's proposed changes, fearing that they weaken water quality standards, and may have severe health consequences for aquatic life and animals that consume contaminated fish.
"The Bush administration is proposing changes to the selenium standards that are being promoted by coal mining interests and other industries that want to avoid taking steps to limit this serious form of water pollution," Joan Mulhern, senior legislative counsel to Earthjustice, told BushGreenwatch.
Various mining industries across the country contribute to selenium levels in U.S. waterways, including phosphate mines in Idaho, copper mines in Utah, mountaintop coal mines in West Virginia, and coal-burning power plants.
The Sacrament Bee cited several scientists who are troubled by the new levels and how they might weaken water quality standards. [2] EPA plans to switch to a fish-based standard for measuring selenium levels, which in itself is not objectionable. But the EPA is raising the allowable concentration of selenium in fish to 7.91 parts per million, from 5 parts per million that is allowed in water. [3]
Also at issue is the source of research that has influenced the proposed standard changes for selenium. The contractor in charge of research has previously worked for industries supporting weaker selenium standards. The potentially flawed analysis may have overstated survival rates for fish contaminated with selenium by as much as two or three times.
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SOURCES:
[1] EPA website.
[2] EPA Proposes New Selenium Standards, Sacramento Bee, Dec. 10, 2004.
[3] Federal Register, Dec. 17, 2004.
