The Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee will soon mark up legislation to tighten oversight of chemical storage facilities in the wake of last month’s 4-Methylcyclohexene methanol (MCHM) spill in Charleston, W.Va. EPW Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) made this pledge during a subcommittee hearing last week that considered approaches to protecting sources of drinking water from similar incidents in the future.
Boxer was referring to the “Chemical Safety and Drinking Water Protection Act” (S. 1961), which West Virginia Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Jay Rockefeller introduced following the spill. The bill would subject chemical storage facilities that could threaten water supplies to new state inspections and require facility owners to share information about chemical inventories with downstream water systems.
S. 1961 has yet to draw Republican support, though EPW ranking member David Vitter (R-La.) opened the door to GOP cooperation by saying he is “supportive of [Manchin’s] efforts” on the bill. Vitter went on to say he has shared some concerns about the current bill text with Manchin’s staff.
Among witnesses offering testimony at last week’s hearing, Brent Fewell of United Water told the panel prompt spill notifications are critical, but warned against rules that would “simply dump reams of paper and data” on water utilities. Erik Olson of the Natural Resources Defense Council expressed general support for S. 1961 but said Congress should also strengthen the Toxic Substances Control Act to increase toxicity testing on thousands of chemicals used in commerce. AMWA did not testify, but submitted a letter to subcommittee members with recommendations for spill response legislation (see related story).
Senators at the hearing generally avoided blaming Charleston’s water utility for not detecting or eliminating the presence of MCHM in its water immediately after the spill. “The responsibility to provide safe drinking water to thousands of customers is enormous and highly complex,” said Water and Wildlife Subcommittee Chairman Ben Cardin (D-Md.). “We can’t expect every water provider to test and treat their water for every known chemical.”