Why the EPA won’t get the lead out of our water

Photo: AP/Carlos Osorio

The agency was slow to revise its lead pipe regulations under Obama. It’s even worse under Trump

Almost three decades after the landmark Lead and Copper Rule went into effect, children and pregnant women are being poisoned by lead in our nation’s drinking water in part because there is no requirement that the EPA be notified about where lead pipes are.

Public employees are pushing the EPA to rewrite its regulations which have helped enable crises like Flint, Mich., and now Newark, N.J. An estimated 15 million to 22 million people, or 5% to 7.5% of our nation’s population, drink water delivered through lead pipes.

“EPA has known about this problem for years but has yet to lift a regulatory finger,” said Kyla Bennett of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.

The EPA under former President Barack Obama and now Trump has delayed plans to revise the Lead and Copper Rule six times. The agency is now supposed to start the rulemaking process in February.

Trump has stacked the agency with industry-friendly appointees such as attorney Susan Bodine who heads the EPA’s enforcement unit. David P. Ross worked to help polluters before Trump nominated him to lead the EPA’s the Office of Water. Patrick Traylor, the deputy in the enforcement office, represented companies owned by the Koch […]

Full article: Why the EPA won’t get the lead out of our water