Opinion

Arsenic dangerous in another way

Thursday, August 7, 2003

If you live in McCook and haven't been keeping up on news from the McCook City Council, you may be surprised to see the $2 increase that comes with your sewer bill.

That increase will be used to offset the cost of bringing the city's sewer plant up to the Environmental Protection Agency's requirement for releasing water containing ammonia into the Republican River.

Up until a few years ago, the city's sewer system was doing just fine and then, with a stroke of a pen by some bureaucrat in Washington, the Republican River was designated a "recreational river."

How many of you have been swimming in the Republican lately? When was the last time you unloaded your jet ski off a boat ramp at Barnett Park? For that matter, who can remember the last time a worm actually drowned in the vast river of sand?

And there's not much hope for improvement in water levels since the federal court system has decided Nebraska has to give up even more water from the Republican River to the state of Kansas. Maybe we should just give up. If they want more of the water we have, they''ll be getting about as much as we've got -- zip.

The last time I remember actually being able to do anything on the river was in 1992, when my brother decided we should have a family outing and go innertubing. In his defense it looked like there was a lot more water than there actually was.

Plans were to start our trip at Barnett Park and glide our way through the refreshing water to the bridge across from the Republican Valley School. The trip was supposed to take about four hours.

Six hours later, after carrying our tubes about two miles through the thick sand along the river bottom, we finally reached the Harry Strunk Memorial Rest Area.

Another problem McCook and other communities around the country are facing is the arsenic ruling.

The EPA has mandated that arsenic is bad and shouldn't be a part of the drinking water, so it dropped its regulation from 50 parts per billion to 10 parts per billion.

Arsenic is a natural occurring mineral in the soil. For thousands of years, people have been drinking water with arsenic in it. Farmers grow our food in soil containing arsenic. Ranchers raise cattle that eat the grass that grows in the soil containing arsenic. Children eat mud pies made of soil containing arsenic -- if it's as dangerous as the EPA says it is, we'd all be dead.

But again, with the stroke of a pen by some bureaucrat in Washington, acceptable arsenic levels have been reduced and we're left holding the bill.

It's interesting to note that while communities of all sizes are subject to the arsenic rule, rural dwellers are exempt. Maybe it's a secret government conspiracy to rid the country of our food source. We'll just poison the entire ag industry with arsenic-laced water.

In visiting with U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel Tuesday I learned that in 1986 the U.S. government gave EPA officials nearly omnipotent power. They can do pretty much anything they want without interference from anyone, including the people we have put in office to run the country.

That's a terrifying thought -- that not even the lawmakers can change the laws to protect the people from these types of oppressive rules and regulations.

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