A bill to set a federal drinking water standard for a harmful component of rocket fuel has gained initial approval.

A House Energy and Commerce Committee panel approved the Safe Drinking Water for Healthy Communities Act on a voice vote Nov. 8. It would require the Environmental Protection Agency to set mandatory rules for perchlorate within a year after the bill becomes law.

"Unfortunately, contamination caused by unregulated perchlorate threatens both public health, particularly pregnant women and children, and our drinking water supplies," said Rep. Hilda Solis, the California Democrat who wrote the bill. She is vice chair of the Environment and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee, which passed the bill. "As policymakers, it is our responsibility to ensure that the agencies in charge of protecting public health and our drinking water supplies are fulfilling their responsibilities."

More than 450 drinking water sources in California are contaminated with perchlorate, Solis said. Her home state is one of two states -- the other is Massachusetts -- already regulating the chemical that is primarily used by NASA and the Department of Defense.

Humans exposed to the chemical can experience significant changes in their thyroid hormone levels, according to a fall 2006 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Defense Department, Solis said in a news release, has monitored for perchlorate but hasn´t initiated any cleanups. She also chided EPA officials for not acting to address perchlorate pollution. Almost a decade ago, agency officials considered regulating the chemical. But that changed in April when the EPA announced that it needed to continue to study the issue.

"The EPA and the Defense Department have engaged in a game of finger pointing and delay," Solis said. "In the interim, the threat to children´s health has continued to grow."

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