The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is forming a small business advocacy review (SBAR) panel to focus on developing a rule that proposes to regulate the amount of perchlorate, a potentially harmful chemical, in drinking water.
Perchlorate is both a naturally occurring and man-made chemical that is used to produce rocket fuel, fireworks, flares and explosives. Perchlorate can also be present in bleach and in some fertilizers.
According to the EPA, it is likely that perchlorate occurs frequently at levels of health concern in public water systems—monitoring data shows more than four percent of public water systems have detected perchlorate. The EPA says regulating perchlorate can reduce health risks for the between 5.2 million and 16.6 million people who may be served drinking water containing perchlorate.
The EPA is inviting small businesses, governments, and not-for-profit organizations to participate as small entity representatives (SERs) on the panel through a self-nomination process. Other representatives, such as trade associations that exclusively or at least primarily represent potentially regulated small entities, may also serve as SERs.
Self-nominations may be submitted through the EPA and must be received by August 26, 2011. Click here for more information.