Pallone Blasts Trump Administration's Proposed Lead and Copper Rule

Statement

Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) criticized the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) newly-proposed lead and copper rule, which is meant to provide the first update in three decades to the federal government's lead and copper water standards:

"This proposal by EPA is appallingly inadequate. Once again, the Trump Administration is failing the American public by refusing to do what is necessary to protect them. Administrator Wheeler must explain to the people of Flint, Newark and the countless other communities throughout the country suffering from polluted drinking water why their government is continuing to allow lead service pipes to contaminate their towns.

"What's more, EPA's proposal continues to allow up to 15 parts per billion of lead in our water, despite science being clear that no level of lead is safe. The few constructive measures in this proposal are already required by law. Asking utilities to inventory their lead lines was mandated by last year's Americans' Water Infrastructure Act. Requiring that households be notified of excessive lead levels within 24 hours was part of the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act of 2016. Both of these policies were spearheaded by congressional Democrats, and neither is new. EPA's effectively empty proposal makes clear the Trump Administration cares little about our growing lead water crisis, and is yet again unwilling to take any meaningful action to protect Americans' health."

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