By MICHAEL PHILLIS

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday said it would propose a drinking water limit for perchlorate, a harmful chemical in rockets and other explosives, but also said doing so wouldn’t significantly benefit public health and that it was acting only because a court ordered it.

The agency said it will seek input on how strict the limit should be for perchlorate, which is particularly dangerous for infants, and require utilities to test. The agency’s move is the latest in a more than decade-long battle over whether to regulate perchlorate. The EPA said that the public benefit of the regulation did not justify its expected cost.

“Due to infrequent perchlorate levels of health concern, the vast majority of the approximately 66,000 water systems that would be subject to the rule will incur substantial administrative and monitoring costs with limited or no corresponding public health benefits as a whole,” the agency wrote in its proposal.

Perchlorate is used to make rockets, fireworks and other explosives, although it can also occur naturally. At some defense, aerospace and manufacturing sites, it seeped into nearby groundwater where it could spread, a problem that has been concentrated in the Southwest and along sections of the East Coast.

Perchlorate is a concern because it affects the function of the thyroid, which can be particularly detrimental for the development of young children, lowering IQ scores and increasing rates of behavioral problems.

Based on estimates that perchlorate could be in the drinking water of roughly 16 million people, the EPA determined in 2011 that it was a sufficient threat to public health that it needed to be regulated. Under the Safe Drinking Water Act, this determination required the EPA to propose and then finalize regulations by strict deadlines, with a proposal due in two years.

It didn’t happen. First, the agency updated the science to better estimate perchlorate’s risks, but that took time. By 2016, the nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council sued to force action.

During the first Trump administration, the EPA proposed a never-implemented standard that the NRDC said was less restrictive than any state limit and would lead to IQ point loss in children. It reversed itself in 2020, saying no standard was necessary because a new analysis had found the chemical was less dangerous and its appearance in drinking water less common than previously thought.

That’s still the agency’s position. It said Monday that its data shows perchlorate is not widespread in drinking water.

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“We anticipate that fewer than one‑tenth of 1% of regulated water systems are likely to find perchlorate above the proposed limits,” the agency said. A limit will help the small number of places with a problem, but burden the vast majority with costs they don’t need, officials said.

The NRDC challenged that reversal and a federal appeals court said the EPA must propose a regulation for perchlorate, arguing that it still is a significant and widespread public health threat. The agency will solicit public comment on limits of 20, 40 and 80 parts per billion, as well as other elements of the proposal.

“Members of the public deserve to know whether there’s rocket fuel in their tap water. We’re pleased to see that, however reluctantly, EPA is moving one step closer to providing the public with that information,” said Sarah Fort, a senior attorney with NRDC.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has sought massive rollbacks of environmental rules and promoted oil and gas development. But on drinking water, the agency’s actions have been more moderate. The agency said it would keep the Biden administration’s strict limits on two of the most common types of harmful “forever chemicals” in drinking water, while giving utilities more time to comply, and would scrap limits on other types of PFAS.

The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment

ROCHESTER — A Stillwater man was given probation for sexually assaulting a vulnerable adult in 2021.

Harold David Short, 60, pleaded guilty to a felony charge of fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct on Jan. 23, 2024.

According to court records, a witness contacted the Rochester Police Department and said Short had picked up the woman from a group home in Burnsville and brought her to St. Paul, Stillwater, Rochester and Alma, Wisconsin. The woman later told investigators Short had injected her with methamphetamine and then sexually assaulted her at a home in southwest Rochester in late December 2021.

Short later dropped the victim off at the Southeast Regional Crisis Center on Dec. 30, 2021.

The woman’s guardian told law enforcement that the woman has the mental capacity of someone between 11 and 14 years old.

Felony charges of third-degree criminal sexual conduct and using drugs to facilitate a crime were dismissed in the plea. Short was scheduled to be sentenced in April 2024, but failed to appear for the hearing.

Short was given four years of probation with a suspended sentence of 16 months in prison and credited with 72 days in jail.

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What did Pro Football Focus think of how the Vikings performed on Sunday afternoon at U.S. Bank Stadium? Here’s a look at the player grades from the Vikings’ 16-3 win over the Green Bay Packers:

Top 3 on offense (minimum 20 snaps)

Ben Yurosek … 90.4

Justin Jefferson … 88.8

Jordan Mason … 73.7

Analysis: It’s no surprise that Jefferson scored very high across his snaps considering he was a focal point of the offense. The fact that Yurosek finished with the highest grade on offense in an increased role speaks to his potential. It wasn’t a horrible showing from J.J. McCarthy (61.4). He just wasn’t able to finish the game, which, in turn, left a sour taste in everybody’s mouth given his continued struggles with staying on the field.

Bottom 3 on offense (minimum 20 snaps)

Max Brosmer … 35.7

Jordan Addison … 56.1

Ty Chandler … 59.3

Analysis: If anything is clear about Brosmer, is that he can’t be the backup moving forward. He’s very much a project that needs more time to learn the ropes. He lost a fumble in the game in egregious fashion. He fell to the ground, thought he was down, then got the ball knocked out after standing up. As for Addison, he finished a disappointing campaign on a low note, which is fitting considering his body of work from this season.

Top 3 on defense (minimum 20 snaps)

Andrew Van Ginkel … 89.8

Byron Murphy Jr. … 77.4

Theo Jackson … 74.9

Analysis: The standout performances from Van Ginkel, Murphy, and Jackson were highlights from a dominant display on defense. It’s hard to put too much stock into the game itself, however, because it was mostly backups and reserves on the other end.

Bottom 3 on defense (minimum 20 snaps)

Levi Drake Rodriguez … 37.0

Eric Wilson … 52.8

Javon Hargrave … 57.4

Analysis: It feels aggressive to give anybody as low of a grade as Rodriguez given the way the defense played. It was deemed that he wasn’t up to the task as a run defender. As for Wilson, he struggled in coverage, even if he continued to be a beast as a pass rusher.

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By MICHELLE CHAPMAN, Associated Press Business Writer

Shares of major U.S. companies in the energy sector are sharply higher Monday after President Donald Trump announced plans to take control of Venezuela’s oil industry and said American companies would revitalize it after capturing President Nicolás Maduro.

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While the U.S. action is unlikely to have an immediate impact on crude prices given the current glut in the market, it could upend energy markets.

Venezuela’s oil industry is in disrepair after years of neglect and international sanctions. Some oil industry analysts believe that Venezuela could double or triple its current output of about 1.1 million barrels of oil a day and return the nation to historic production levels relatively quickly, others see a much longer road ahead.

“While the Trump administration has suggested large U.S. oil companies will go into Venezuela and spend billions to fix infrastructure, we believe political and other risks along with current relatively low oil prices could prevent this from happening anytime soon,” wrote Neal Dingmann of William Blair. Material change to Venezuelan production will take a lot of time and millions of dollars of infrastructure improvement, he said.

Any investment in Venezuelan energy infrastructure right now would take place in a weakened global energy market. Crude prices in the U.S. are down 20% compared with last year. The price for a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude hasn’t been above $70 since June, and hasn’t touched $80 per barrel since the summer of 2024.

JPMorgan foresees a brief, sharp dip in Venezuelan production, but said production could reach 1.3 million to 1.4 million barrels per day within two years of a political transition.

“With new investments and major institutional reforms, output could potentially expand to 2.5 mbd over the next decade,” JPMorgan wrote.

Yet almost all energy analysts said the situation is extremely fluid. John Freeman of Raymond James pointed to an abundance of unknowns, including how quickly U.S. energy companies would be willing to invest.

“Additionally, other areas of interest include further actions by the U.S. in Latin America (e.g., Cuba?), along with continued unrest in Iran,” Freeman wrote. “There’s plenty of uncertainty in the backdrop, and clearly 2026 is off to a ‘hot’ start.”

At the opening bell, shares in the energy sector moved broadly higher, particularly companies with large refinery operations.

Venezuela produces the kind of heavy crude oil that’s needed for diesel fuel, asphalt and other fuels for heavy equipment. Diesel is in short supply around the world because of the sanctions on oil from Venezuela and Russia and because America’s lighter crude oil can’t easily replace it.

“A bullish production outlook would be a big boost for U.S. refiners, as much of the Gulf Coast refining capacity is designed to run heavy/sour crude like those from Venezuela,” wrote Freeman said.

Big refiners like Valero, Marathon Petroleum and Phillips 66 rose between 5% and 6% at the opening bell.

Oilfield service companies, those that actually go into the field and do the drilling and upkeep, rose even more sharply.

SLB and Halliburton rose between 7% and 8%.

Major oil exploratory companies including ExxonMobil, Chevron and ConocoPhillips rose between 2% and 4%.