DIRTY WATER, DIRTY FIGHT
In an increasingly shrill battle overGOP efforts to roll back environmental regulations, EPA head Carol Browner warned local officials late Wednesday that one in 10 Americans drinks from a water system that violates public health standards. "We cannot take the safety of our drinking water for granted," Browner told a group of local officials. "More remains to be done." GOP House members want to do less. Hours earlier, a subcommittee voted to gut the long-sacred Clean Water Act, which protects lakes, rivers and streams from pollution.TIME Washington correspondent Dick Thompsonnotes that Browner, whom Republicans are now attacking for running a "partisan" EPA, is losing the fight. The water overhaul should pass the House in May, Thompson says, and theEndangered Species Act"likely won't survive in any form we recognize."