9/11 Scholars Forum

Exposing Falsehoods and Revealing Truths

RADICAL DRINKING WATER RADIATION RISE CONFIRMED IN EPA PLAN

EPA Hid Planned Exposure Levels 1,000s of Times Safe Drinking Water Act Limits

http://www.peer.org/news/news-releases/radical-drinking-water-radia...

 


Washington, DC — In the last days of the Obama Administration, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is about to dramatically increase allowable public exposure to radioactivity to levels thousands of times above the maximum limits of the Safe Drinking Water Act, according to documents the agency surrendered in a federal lawsuit brought by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). These radical rollbacks cover the “intermediate period” following a radiation release and could last for up to several years. This plan is in its final stage of approval.

The documents indicate that the plan’s rationale is rooted in public relations, not public health. Following Japan’s Fukushima meltdown in 2011, EPA’s claims that no radioactivity could reach the U.S. at levels of concern were contradicted by its own rainwater measurements showing contamination from Fukushima throughout the U.S. well above Safe Drinking Water Act limits. In reaction, EPA prepared new limits 1000s of times higher than even the Fukushima rainwater because “EPA experienced major difficulties conveying to the public that the detected levels…were not of immediate concern for public health.”

When EPA published for public comment the proposed “Protective Action Guides,” it hid proposed new concentrations for all but four of the 110 radionuclides covered, and refused to reveal how much they were above Safe Drinking Water Act limits. It took a lawsuit to get EPA to release documents showing that –

  • The proposed PAGs for two radionuclides (Cobalt-60 and Calcium-45) are more than 10,000 times Safe Drinking Water Act limits. Others are hundreds or thousands of times higher;
  • According to EPA’s own internal analysis, some concentrations are high enough to deliver a lifetime permissible dose in a single day. Scores of other radionuclides would be allowed at levels that would produce a lifetime dose in a week or a month;
  • The levels proposed by the Obama EPA are higher than what the Bush EPA tried to adopt--also in its final days. That plan was ultimately withdrawn; and
  • EPA hid the proposed increases from the public so as to “avoid confusion,” intending to release the higher concentrations only after the proposal was adopted. The documents also reveal that EPA’s radiation division even hid the new concentrations from other divisions of EPA that were critical of the proposal, requiring repeated efforts to get them to even be disclosed internally.

“To cover its embarrassment after being caught dissembling about Fukushima fallout on American soil, EPA is pursuing a justification for assuming a radioactive fetal position even in cases of ultra-high contamination,” stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch, noting that New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has called for the PAGs to be withdrawn on both public health and legal grounds. “The Safe Drinking Water Act is a federal law; it cannot be nullified or neutered by regulatory ‘guidance.’”

Despite claims of transparency, EPA solicited public comment on its plan even as it hid the bulk of the plan’s effects. Nonetheless, more than 60,000 people filed comments in opposition.

“The Dr. Strangelove wing of EPA does not want this information shared with many of its own experts, let alone the public,” added Ruch, noting that PEER had to file a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit to force release of exposure limits. “This is a matter of public health that should be promulgated in broad daylight rather than slimed through in the witching hours of a departing administration.”

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View ultra-high proposed PAG allowable concentrations

(and explanation for the chart)

See briefing memo explaining why EPA wants water PAGs

Read letter of opposition from New York Attorney General

Revisit PEER lawsuit

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Comment by Shallel Octavia on January 9, 2017 at 3:21pm

Hi Danny -
I am truly sorry you were injured working at GAFB. 
The MIC is just a corporate entity that cares not for it’s employees or the public; only their bottom line.
The will lie, omit, murder, torture and maim. They are exempt from oversight and have doomed everyone on the
planet - including themselves - unless they have some plan to escape or are a different species that has an
immunity to ionizing radiation. I am familiar with radnet, and also follow Bob Nichols' "Your Radiation This Week"
posts. http://www.veteranstoday.com/2016/12/31/your-radiation-this-week-no...
I am lucky to live east of the Blue Ridge, as Harrisonberg, VA is riding around that 1000 CMP mark as the fallout
gets squeezed out of the atmosphere by the mountains and falls on my friends over there.
I am confident my heart will explode before the cancer sets in, but it is only a matter of time before the next NPP
that is way over it's "safe" life will have a mishap due to the Wigner-effected steel that is not only poorly
maintained, but in some cases like Indian Point, 30 miles from Midtown Manhattan, so old that they do not even
have an accurate diagram of the piping under the facility.
In that case, it's barbiturates for me!
With Appreciation, 
Shallel

Comment by Danny White on January 8, 2017 at 2:13pm

Hi Shallel: I'm afraid most people don't understand the risks involved with radiation exposure.   The Government tells everyone there's nothing to worry about, while radiation accumulates in their bodies.  You can't feel it when

you are exposed, and it takes 5-10 years to show up in your blood tests.  I was exposed to gamma radiation in

the mid 70's while maintaining an air sampling machine which collected krypton85 and radioactive xenon in San

Angelo, Texas at Goodfellow AFB.  I wasn't warned that it was a hazardous job when I volunteered for it.  It just

took samples from the outside air.  Sounded safe to me.  It turns out the aluminum sample container which I

mailed off every week contains the nasty stuff but not the gamma radiation given off.  I've had Myelofibrosis (bone marrow disease) since 1980 which showed up as 3 unexplained strokes (embolic).  The only way you can get myelofibrosis is from gamma radiation.  I can't even get the VA to admit that it is service connected.

No one should expect any help from the Government, the VA, or Social Security for radiation caused ailments.

Gamma radiation levels are extremely high all over the U.S. following Fukushima. The last time I checked San Angelo (60 miles from me) is #10 hottest spot in the US for gamma radiation.  If you think you are safe and there's no gamma radiation around you check the Radnet link I posted for a city near you. It is an eye opener.

If you haven't had cancer yet, I recommend you take out cancer insurance. I hear it pays pretty good.

Comment by Chuck Boldwyn on January 5, 2017 at 1:14am
Very good & interesting article revealing super corruption & unethical & unpatriotic Obama's EPA leaders are, but can one expect from commies, democrats...

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