WASHINGTON — The EPA has decided to implement the Trump administration’s lead and copper rule while proposing additional new requirements intended to address concerns that it doesn’t go far enough to protect the public.
The agency plans to announce that approach Thursday along with a number of other actions across the government to remediate lead paint in homes and address lead contamination in drinking water, according to senior administration officials who spoke on the condition that they not be identified.
In its closing weeks in office, the Trump administration finalized the first updates in decades to lead and copper rules for water utilities. Under the updated rule, utilities that exceed 10 parts of lead per billion have to work with state regulators on plans to replace lead service lines and at 15 parts per billion communities would be required to replace at least 3 percent of known or suspected lead lines per year.
Critics suggested that represented a slower replacement rate than a previous 7 percent requirement. Then-EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler defended the proposal by saying that it also closed a number of loopholes that had kept the actual replacement rate much lower.
In previewing Thursday’s announcement, a senior administration official said the Biden administration is committed to addressing lead service lines and has serious concerns about the trigger levels included in the Trump rule, as well as the lack of a requirement that 100 percent of lead lines be replaced. However, the official said the rule does have near-term public health protections, such as a requirement that utilities inventory their lead service lines by 2024.
That requirement is key due to uncertainty over just how many lead service lines exist and where they are. Estimates are that the country has 6 million to 10 million lead service lines, with disadvantaged communities particularly at risk.
While the Trump rule will go into effect, the EPA plans to propose its own rule that will include a requirement that 100 percent of lead service lines are replaced as quickly as feasible, with an approximate timeline of 10 years. The agency also plans to evaluate other aspects of the rule such as its testing requirements and action trigger levels.
The EPA also will announce it is allocating about $3 billion to states, tribes and territories for lead service line replacement in 2022, with a call to prioritize underserved communities. That funding comes from the $15 billion over five years included specifically for the purpose in the bipartisan infrastructure law (PL 117-58).
Other actions to be announced include establishing regional technical assistance hubs to fast-track lead service line removal projects, the Department of Housing and Urban Development awarding grants for removing lead paint and other home health hazards and the Treasury Department clarifying that $350 billion in the American Rescue Plan’s State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund can be used to replace lead service lines.
The slate of actions is being packaged as a “lead pipe and paint action plan” that Vice President Kamala Harris will promote during Thursday morning remarks at the AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington. It’s the latest in a series of administration events touting the benefits flowing from the bipartisan infrastructure bill President Joe Biden signed into law last month.
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