A blistering report recently identified a number of significant gaps in homeland security, among them the lack of real security for the nation's water supply. Gaps in homeland security just happened to correspond with Bush-Cheney campaign donors: the industries that should be required to do more to protect the nation from terrorist attack by securing the water supply, hazardous material transport, nuclear facilities, and more were being let off the hook -- and, surprise, surprise, those industries were big donors to the Bush-Cheney campaigns. Now comes word that EPA's proposal to close the gap on the water supply is to... let the industry choose what it wants to do. The Environmental Protection Agency issued new voluntary guidelines Thursday that rely on industry to secure drinking water and wastewater treatment plants against attack. The guidelines for improving designs and operations were written by industry groups with EPA financing.... Benjamin Grumbles, the agency's top official for water issues, said "Americans should feel confident, when they turn on the tap, they have access to some of the cleanest, safest water in the world...." But Erik Olson, a lawyer at the environmental group Natural Resources Defense Council, said industry had strongly objected to giving EPA more authority on water security. "There's still no authority for federal officials to order a crackdown on security threats at drinking water and sewage plants," Olson said. "We're very concerned the security of the nation's water supplies is turned over to industry with minimal federal oversight." --from John Heilprin, "EPA Relying on Industry for Water Safety," Associated Press (Dec. 9, 2004)