by John Henley Jr., The Morning News: The cost for drinking water could increase if some U.S. senators get their way. Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) introduced a bill in May 2006 that would provide grants for water treatment facilities to switch from using chlorine gas as a disinfectant to a safer alternative. Drinking water has to be treated before being dispersed to the public. Treatment facilities have since the early 1900s used chlorine gas as a disinfecting agent. The chlorine in the water helps people drinking that water fight off certain diseases and has saved millions of lives since being introduced, said Larry Lloyd, chief operating officer of Beaver Water District. Biden was joined by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and former Sen. James Jeffords in introducing legislation . . ."It was a knee-jerk reaction to what was going on in Iraq last year," said Scott Borman, manager of Benton/Washington Regional Public Water Authority. Terrorists in Iraq strapped explosives to cylinders of chlorine gas and created a bomb that released a toxic cloud of gas. . . . Biden's bill did not make it out of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. However, aides in Biden's office said he plans to rewrite the bill and introduce it in the future, said Lisa Ackerman, press secretary for Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR).
There is also another bill making its way through the Senate Environment Committee that was introduced by Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK). Inhofe's bill would provide $245 million in EPA grants for security enhancements at drinking water and wastewater facilities, if risk assessments and vulnerability studies have been done, according to . . . Inhofe's website. The bill is being considered in the environment committee."Inhofe's bill is a good one because it provides treatment facilities with the means to shore up the problems highlighted in the vulnerability assessment," Borman said. . . . [Read More] [ARRA Editor: And Biden wants to be president? Pursues a knee jerk reaction to increase cost of processes and thus the cost of water to Americans while ignoring the option to fund securing water production facilities. Could Biden and the Democrats have other reasons for proposing this option?]
Tags: Democrats, Homeland Security, James Inhofe, Joe Biden, terrorism, water, water treatment To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
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