ulation that still meets the same timeframe for compliance as the Clinton standard. In 1999, the National Academy of Sciences said that arsenic in drinking water can cause bladder, lung and skin cancer, and might cause liver and kidney cancer. The Clinton EPA had initially proposed setting the standard at 5 parts per billion last year in response to a lawsuit by the Natural Resources Defense Council, but then settled at 10 parts per billion. Environmentalists, who have argued for years that the arsenic standard should be stricter, criticized the EPA on Wednesday for putting off a final decision. "We're outraged that this is going to assure a year of delays for protection of public health for millions of Americans," NRDC senior attorney Erik D. Olson said. He said the parameters set by Whitman are "a pretty clear signal" that the EPA is headed toward settling at 20 parts per billion -- twice the amount that Clinton would have allowed. ...
