Lawmakers Debate Chromium-6 Regs In Jersey

New Jersey lawmakers are debating whether to regulate chromium-6, the contaminant made famous by environmentalist Erin Brockovich.

Officials in the New Jersey Senate Environment and Energy Committee heard testimony this week on whether the level of chromium-6 in New Jersey’s drinking water poses a risk to public health. The hearing touched on other contaminants, as well, and became a debate about whether New Jersey regulators and lawmakers should do more to uphold the advice of state scientists on water issues.

Michael Furrey, chairman of the New Jersey section of the American Water Works Association, said at the hearing that the state’s Drinking Water Quality Institute is the best source of guidance for lawmakers, The Press of Atlantic City reported.

David Pringle of Clean Water Action and Jeff Tittel of the New Jersey Sierra Club noted that “the state’s Drinking Water Quality Institute recommended a state standard of .07 parts per billion in 2010 but the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection never adopted it,” the report said.

The institute itself became a subject of discussion at the hearing, per The Press of Atlantic City:

Several speakers said they felt the institute has been shut down by Governor Chris Christie, but the institute has a February 17 meeting coming up and there are minutes online from a Sept. 16 meeting. DEP spokesman Larry Hajna said the institute stopped meeting in September 2010 and resumed in April 2014.

NJ Spotlight added more background on this issue:

The dispute stems from long-ago recommendations developed by the state Drinking Water Quality Institute, an advisory panel of scientists and academics, to establish tough new drinking-water standards for radon, perchlorate, vinyl chloride, and other contaminants. The institute recommended the perchlorate standard in 2005, and the others in 2009. Under current law, the recommendations go to the DEP, but in this case it never acted upon them.

A spokeswoman for industry interests offered a different point of view on chromium-6 at the hearing.

“The highest level of hexavalent chromium found in the state was 3.8 parts per billion, said Ann Mason, senior director of the American Chemistry Council’s Northeast Region, which represents manufacturers. That is well below both the federal standard for total chromium of 100 parts per billion and California’s standard of 10 parts per billion,” The Press of Atlantic City reported.

A report released last year by the Environmental Working Group, an advocacy group, found that chromium-6 contaminates the water supply in all 50 states, affecting around 200,000 people.

For similar stories visit Water Online’s Drinking Water Regulations And Legislation Solutions Center.