Washington, DC –
U.S. Senator Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD), chairman of the EPW Water and Wildlife Subcommittee,
released the following statement in response to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson’s announcement that the EPA
is developing a broad new set of strategies to strengthen public health protection from contaminants in drinking water and revising the existing drinking water standards for four contaminants that can cause cancer (tetrachloroethylene, trichloroethylene, acrylamide and epichlorohydrin)
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“I am proud we finally have an Environmental Protection Agency that's acting aggressively and creatively to protect our environment and each one of us that relies on it for safe and clean water,”
said Senator Cardin. “For eight years, EPA did not do enough to ensure the safety of our nation's drinking water.  As a result, existing standards for contaminants in our water are out of date and many emerging contaminants have gone without standards or oversight for too long.
 I look forward to working with the Administrator to finalize her proposed approach to better address threats to our drinking water and to pass S. 1005, the
Water Infrastructure Financing Act.  S. 1005 would increase funding for the infrastructure so critical to keeping our drinking water safe.”