Washington, D.C. — Today, seven years after the start of the Flint, Michigan, water crisis, the White House announced a major new national goal and action plan to remove toxic lead from pipes and paint from peoples’ homes, residential buildings, schools, and child care centers across the country within the next decade. This whole-of-government approach for lead removal and remediation will mobilize a historic level of resources, strengthen health protections and enforcement, and focus first on disadvantaged communities while supporting the creation of good jobs nationwide. In response, Christy Goldfuss, senior vice president for Energy and Environment Policy at the Center for American Progress and former managing director of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, released the following statement:
For too long, we have not acted with enough urgency or cohesion to address the serious health risks that lead paint and pipes pose to children and communities around the country. Millions of children and adults have suffered from lead poisoning, with many experiencing brain and nervous system damage that undermines their health and quality of life. Today’s announcement from the Biden administration is exactly the kind of coordinated national strategy, with environmental justice at its core, that is needed. This approach to nationwide lead remediation puts funds from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, such as the $15 billion for replacing lead service lines, to good use cleaning up the hazards that have plagued these communities for decades. It also creates well-paying, family-sustaining jobs in the communities that need them the most. Now, it is absolutely essential that Congress move swiftly to pass the Build Back Better Act and put in motion the additional much-needed funding for cleaning up lead and other pollution, improving public health, and creating jobs that will come from lead remediation across the country.
For more information or to speak with an expert, please contact Sam Hananel at [email protected].