Court Rules Against Biden, Trump EPAs on Rocket Fuel Chemical Linked to Low IQ

A glass of water is filled at a kitchen tap. Cate Gillon/Getty Images

The U.S. Court of Appeals has overruled the Trump and Biden administrations on how much of a rocket fuel chemical linked to IQ loss can be allowed in Americans’ drinking water.

The case pitted the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The May 9 rulings from a three-judge panel hinged on how much authority the EPA has under the Clean Drinking Water Act.

The Obama administration first issued a regulatory determination on that chemical, perchlorate, in 2011. But after years without producing actual regulations, it was sued by the NRDC in 2016.

Under a consent decree between the EPA and the NRDC, the agency was required to issue regulations and what is known as a maximum contaminant level goal—described in the decision as “an unenforceable, aspirational level” of the chemical.

Yet in 2020, the Trump EPA withdrew the perchlorate regulatory determination.

The Biden EPA reaffirmed that 2020 finding in 2022.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator, Michael Regan, speaks in Selma, Ala., on March 6, 2022. Elijah Nouvelage/AFP via Getty Images

Judge David B. Sentelle, a Reagan appointee, and David S. Tatel, a Clinton appointee, joined forces against the EPA in a May 9 opinion.

They ruled the agency lacks authority to withdraw its own regulatory determinations under the Clean Drinking Water Act.

“Even if EPA possesses such authority, it acted arbitrarily and capriciously by doing so,” Sentelle wrote.

In a separate decision, Judge Florence Pan, a Biden appointee, agreed with the judgment but argued that the EPA was within its rights to withdraw its prior regulatory determination “based on changes in the best available, peer-reviewed science.”

Yet she found the agency had relied on a “biased dataset that was selectively updated.”

Enter the Thyroid

A large study of more than 20,000 women documented lower IQ among babies whose mothers had high levels of urine perchlorate during their third trimester.

The putative effect is thought to be connected to the thyroid. Researchers have found that the chemical interferes with the uptake of iodine in that gland located at the base of the neck.

The thyroid is a butterfly-shaped gland in the neck just above the collarbone. It secretes hormones that regulate many body functions, including metabolism and cell growth. Shutterstock

Iodine deficiency in fetuses can cause profoundly stunted physical and mental growth.

Others, including groups allied with perchlorate-using aerospace firms, argue that the rocket fuel chemical is not so hazardous to human health.

Bill Romanelli of the Perchlorate Information Bureau, which represents perchlorate users, defended the Biden EPA’s 2022 decision not to step up regulation of perchlorate.

Romanelli declined to comment to The Epoch Times regarding the May 9 ruling.

The NRDC, meanwhile, celebrated the decision.

“After more than a decade of delay and litigation, EPA now must issue a drinking water standard for this widespread and dangerous contaminant. It’s about time,” said the NRDC’s Senior Strategic Director for Health Erik D. Olson in a press release on the ruling.

The Epoch Times has reached out to the EPA for comment.