The Natural Resources Defense Council said it would file a lawsuit today against the U.S. EPA for ignoring a congressional deadline to have a plan in place by last Friday to reduce arsenic levels in drinking water. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said she and several other senators would file papers in support of the NRDC lawsuit. In March, the Bush administration suspended a Clinton administration rule that would have allowed no more than 10 parts per billion of arsenic in tap water, leaving in place the 1942 standard of 50 ppb. The World Health Organization recommends a standard of no more than 10 ppb.
