ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, July 19, 1996 TAG: 9607190063
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
Three conservation groups sued the Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday, accusing it of doing "too little too late" to stop pollution.
Such pollution includes some of the chemicals most harmful to people and wildlife - such as mercury, lead and dioxins - and their effects are ``many and pernicious,'' said Mark Van Putten, president of the National Wildlife Federation.
The threat to human health includes cancer, kidney and liver poisoning, respiratory problems, nervous system disorders, and reproductive illnesses, he said.
``EPA's middle name is `Protection,' but maybe it should be `Procrastination.' There is no excuse for bureaucratic inaction when human lives are at stake,'' Van Putten said.
``Industry pollution goes up smokestacks into the sky and comes down in rain and snow, poisoning our lakes, rivers and coastal areas,'' he said. NWF said the pollutants come from many sources such as auto exhaust, incinerators, steel and chemical manufacturing and paper production.
The lawsuit filed in federal court by the federation, the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund and Chesapeake Bay Foundation said the EPA was late in filing one report on the link between air and water pollution and failed to file another report required by November 1995. Both reports were required under 1990 Great Waters Program amendments to the federal Clean Air Act.
``EPA's efforts so far have been too little too late, and it's unfortunate that (we) ... have had to go to federal court and ask a federal judge to order EPA to comply with the law,'' Van Putten said.
EPA officials said the government has taken a series of significant measures to protect the country's water bodies.
Measures include new public health standards that have reduced dioxin by 90 percent and mercury by 30 percent..
- Associated Press
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