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After concluding in late 2001 that an exhaustive scientific review of the revised arsenic rule promulgated earlier that year by the outgoing Clinton Administration supported tightening the 60-year-old federal drinking water standard for arsenic from 50 to 10 ug/L, the Bush Administration is now trying to fend off a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the rule as well as of the 29-year-old Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) itself. In a January 21 brief filed with the USCourt of Appeals for the District of Columbia,attorneys from both the Department ofJustice (DOJ) and the US EnvironmentalProtection Agency (USEPA) spelled outtheir case countering claims by Nebraskaand several water systems that the SDWAin general and the arsenic rule in particularexceed the limits on federal powers overstate activities established by SupremeCourt interpretations of the CommerceClause and the Tenth Amendment and violatethe First Amendment's freedom ofspeech protection. This article summarizes thearguments challenging and supporting thelegality of the arsenic rule and the SDWAaccording to the constitutional provisionscited by Nebraska.

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Edition: Vol. 95 - No. 3 Published: 03/01/2003 Number of Pages: 6 File Size: 1 file , 290 KB