VIDEO: Harder Pushes EPA Administrator on Failure to Regulate Toxin Impacting Manteca Water Supply
1,2,3-Trichloropropane is a known carcinogen currently contaminating Manteca water; Harder pushed the EPA Chief to explain its failure to act on regulating and removing the toxin
WASHINGTON – Today, Representative Josh Harder pushed Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan to explain why his agency has failed to regulate and remove the carcinogen, 1,2,3-Trichloropropane, currently impacting Manteca’s water supply. As part of the powerful Appropriations Committee, Rep. Harder has oversight over the EPA’s $2.8 billion budget for clean drinking water. Rep. Harder is pushing the agency to use these funds to:
- Place 1,2,3-Trichloropropane on its primary drinking water contaminant;
- Work to clean 1,2,3-Trichloropropane out of vulnerable public water systems like that in Manteca;
- Hold Shell Oil Company and Dow Chemical Company, the original polluters who allowed 1,2,3-Trichloropropane to contaminate Manteca’s water, accountable for the damage they’ve created.
VIDEO: Watch Rep. Harder’s Q&A with Administrator Regan online here.
Read Rep. Harder’s remarks as prepared for delivery below:
“Thank you Administrator Regan and Ms. Amin for being here today and I look forward to discussing how we can keep toxic chemicals out of community drinking water systems.
Administrator Regan,in my district, the city of Manteca is dealing with an ongoing contamination of the carcinogenic 1,2,3-Trichloropropane, known as 1,2,3-TCP, in its public water system. California currently regulates 1,2,3-TCP because - to be clear - it causes cancer, but the EPA has failed to regulate it on its primary drinking water contaminant list. With the EPA’s budget of over $2.8 billion for clean drinking water, why has the EPA failed to act on regulating and removing 1,2,3-TCP from vulnerable public water systems like Manteca’s?”
“To follow up, 1,2,3-TCP water contamination is caused by the soil fumigants manufactured by Shell Oil Company and Dow Chemical Company. With the EPA’s budget of $213 million for civil enforcement of polluters, does the EPA have a plan to hold these large oil and chemical companies accountable for the contamination and removal of 1,2,3-TCP from the water systems they contaminated?”
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