November 30, 2023

Duckworth, Booker Statement on EPA’s Proposed Strengthening of the Lead and Copper Rule

 

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Cory Booker (D-NJ), co-founders of the new U.S. Senate Lead Task Force and the U.S. Senate Environmental Justice Caucus, today applauded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed strengthening of the Lead and Copper Rule (LCR), which would lower the lead action level to better protect human health and require water systems to replace old and deteriorating lead pipes within a decade.

“We applaud the Biden Administration for continuing to prioritize the health of our families by working to strengthen the Lead and Copper Rule. Setting this ambitious goal to remove the vast majority of our nation’s lead pipes within 10 years is a bold action that will help save our children’s future. With no safe level of lead for a child to ingest, we must take action to ensure lead regulations are as strong as possible. All too often lead poisoning disproportionately affects underserved, underfunded communities and communities of color. With this improved rule—along with historic investments from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law—we can make a lead-free future a reality for all, no matter the color or their skin or their zip code.”

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law included Duckworth’s Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Act (DWWIA) and is the most significant federal investment in water infrastructure in history, including $15 billion for national lead pipe replacement. DWWIA, which focuses on disadvantaged communities, will help rebuild our nation’s crumbling and dangerous water infrastructure and enable communities to repair and modernize their failing wastewater systems.

Last year Duckworth and Booker, along with U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), led a dozen of their Senate colleagues in calling on EPA to strengthen and enforce the Lead and Copper Rule. This month Duckworth and Booker founded the first ever Senate Lead Task Force to increase long-term visibility around the public health crisis of lead and to oversee the state and federal implementation of the lead pipe removal and replacement funding. The Task Force also includes U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Ed Markey (D-MA). 


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