 Energy & Environment |
Energy & Environment |
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EPA says lead pipes have to be removed in 10 years |
About a decade after the Flint water crisis, the Biden administration is requiring the removal of most of the nation's lead water pipes within 10 years. |
© AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File |
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is issuing a final rule that forces water systems to replace water lines containing lead within a decade. It expects that between 96 and 99 percent of systems will be able to achieve this. Exposure to lead can cause brain and nervous system damage in children. In adults, lead can cause reproductive issues, nerve disorders, high blood pressure and memory problems.
The Biden administration says that it expects its rule will prevent 900,000 infants from having low birth weight, 2,600 children from developing ADHD and 1,500 premature deaths from heart disease each year.
The announcement comes more than a decade after the start of the nation's most well-known lead contamination crisis. In 2014, a water supply switch caused lead pipes in Flint, Mich., to corrode and resulted in the substance contaminating the city's water and exposing nearly 100,000 people to lead. Flint is just one of many communities whose water is served by lead pipes. About 9.2 million lead service lines serve water to communities across America. While the new rule from the EPA was first proposed last year, an official described the final regulation as more stringent. Biden touted the rule during a visit to swing state Wisconsin. Read more at TheHill.com. |
Welcome to The Hill's Energy & Environment newsletter, we're Rachel Frazin and Zack Budryk — keeping you up to speed on the policies impacting everything from oil and gas to new supply chains. |
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President Biden touted his administration's efforts to remove lead and other toxic substances from drinking water as he tried to make the Democrats' case for voters in the swing state of Wisconsin. During an appearance in Milwaukee, he touted his administration's new rule that requires the removal of most of the nation's lead-based water pipes within 10 years. "Kamala and I are the first administration to take on the challenge … |
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Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), a member of the House Appropriations Committee, is leading a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) calling on him to reconvene the House to allocate further disaster relief aid as Hurricane Milton bears down on Florida. |
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Deanne Criswell, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), pushed back on former President Trump's "completely false" claims that the agency lacks on-the-ground personnel in states devastated by Hurricane Helene and that the federal government does not have adequate recovery aid available for victims of the storm. |
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said Monday that it was "delusional" for Vice President Harris to accuse him of "political gamesmanship" after reports emerged that he did not take the Democratic presidential nominee's calls as his state braces for Hurricane Milton. Read more |
| Vice President Harris and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) are trading barbs as Hurricane Milton bears down on the Sunshine State and as election-year politics looms over the response to severe weather that has hammered swaths of the East Coast. Read more |
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