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Thursday, February 6, 2025

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Judge pauses deadline for federal workers to accept Trump's resignation offer; CA state lawmakers take action to enact safeguards against federal immigration enforcement; Study shows air quality disparities from industrial ag in NC.

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Attorney General Pam Bondi strikes a Trump tone at the Justice Department, federal workers get more time to consider buyouts, and an unclassified email request from the White House worries CIA vets.

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During Black History Month, a new book shares how a unique partnership built 5,000 schools for Black students, anti-hunger advocates say ag communities would benefit from an expanded SNAP program, and Americans have $90 billion in unpaid medical bills.

NY works to replace lead water pipes, despite funding challenges

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Wednesday, February 5, 2025   

Despite sharp national political divisions, states including New York are working to eliminate lead in drinking water pipes.

The current challenge is President Donald Trump has paused funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. For some states, it reduces their ability to tackle the Environmental Protection Agency's 10-year timeline to remove lead water pipes.

Maureen Cunningham, chief strategy officer and director of water for the nonprofit Environmental Policy Innovation Center, said lead has long been a problem due to its health effects.

"With recent legislation, the focus is now on replacing the pipes," Cunningham explained. "Because replacing lead service lines and replacing all lead in our water systems will significantly reduce and hopefully even eliminate the threat of lead in drinking water."

New York is already investing state money so municipal water systems can dig up lead pipes. The EPA has awarded the state more than $300 million over the last four years for the purpose, although only about one-third of it has been awarded to municipalities. Since 2017, Gov. Kathy Hochul has put $5 billion toward clean water work but less than 1% has gone to fixing lead pipes.

The biggest challenge to removing lead pipes is knowing where they are. New York introduced legislation to make lead service line locations easily accessible but it failed to advance out of committee. Even in the current political climate, Cunningham stressed the need to replace lead pipes has bipartisan support.

"Voters across the political spectrum, and really across ages, race and political ideology, support lead service line replacement and support investments in water infrastructure," Cunningham observed.

There also are some financial benefits for states. The Natural Resources Defense Council finds lead water pipe removal would lead to states saving $786 billion in health care costs, including $42 billion in New York alone.

Disclosure: The Environmental Policy Innovation Center contributes to our fund for reporting on Climate Change/Air Quality, Environment, and Water. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.


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