ADEM toughens carcinogenic regulations

MONTGOMERY -- A state environmental panel Friday approved new rules to tighten the regulation of carcinogens in Alabama's waterways.

Environmental groups say the move will bring Alabama in line with water standards around the Southeast and reduce the risk of cancer from activities such as swimming and eating fish.

"It was a positive day," said Cindy Lowry, executive director of the Alabama Rivers Alliance. "A lot of positive changes were passed. We're very pleased."

ADEM regulates 58 separate materials identified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as cancer-causing. Alabama had been operating under the least stringent regulations allowed by the EPA.

"It will affect primarily industries with permits to discharge" certain materials into waterways, said Lynn Sisk, chief of ADEM's Water Quality Branch. "(The regulations) will change by a factor of 10."

Supporters said the changes would reduce the risk of cancer from one in 100,000 to one in 1 million.

The panel originally approved the changes in December, but had to go through a public comment and hearing period before final approval on Friday.

The changes affect 57 of 58 regulated materials, the lone exception being arsenic.

Business groups, including Alabama Power, filed complaints last year saying the state already had stringent requirements dealing with arsenic. The groups said regulating it further would impose additional costs for little gain.

Michael Sznajderman, a spokesman for Alabama Power, said the utility had no problem with the new standards as long as arsenic was excluded.

"We were already well below the standard" for arsenic, he said. If the standard for that material had been toughened like it was for the other 57, "it would have been prohibitively expensive to get a minute amount of arsenic removed."

Sisk said state standards for arsenic are tighter than federal ones.