EPA upholds Trump-era decision not to regulate contaminant

By SUMAN NAISHADHAM
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Upholding a Trump-era environmental policy, the Environmental Protection Agency says it will not regulate a drinking water contaminant that has been linked to brain damage in infants. The agency says the Trump administration’s decision in 2020 not to regulate perchlorate in drinking water was made with the “best available peer reviewed science.”  The Trump administration had concluded that the chemical compound was not found widely enough in drinking water or at levels of public health concern to warrant federal regulation. That decision was one of many Trump-era rollbacks or eliminations of existing or pending public health and environmental protection. Environmental groups sharply criticized the Biden administration Thursday for not reversing that decision.