The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said it will spend $3 billion to help states and territories identify and replace lead water pipes.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said it will spend $3 billion to help states and territories identify and replace lead water pipes.

“The science is clear, there is no safe level of lead exposure, and the primary source of harmful exposure in drinking water is through lead pipes,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said, announcing the funding Thursday in an agency news release.

Lead poses serious health risks and can cause irreversible brain damage in children.

The funding announced Thursday is part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which President Joe Biden signed into law in 2021. It sets aside $15 billion overall to identify and replace lead pipes.

  • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
    0·
    6 months ago

    I’m not ignoring the negatives, I’m disregarding possible scenarios that you’re anecdotally hypothesizing could go wrong during a necessary investment in public health and safety that now has funding where it didn’t before.

    I’m suggesting you save your ire for the time something goes wrong instead of uselessly condemning an obviously positive step forward in necessary infrastructure refurbishment.

    You’re complaining about a necessary positive public measure because it doesn’t conform to what specifically you want.

    “Funding has been passed for new textbooks in schools!”

    “This is garbage, I want new protractors in schools! I like protractors!”

    “Okay Jerry fine, but it’s still nice that we have new textbooks. The old ones were riddled with mold and poisoning our children”.

    Maybe you should run for higher office, if you prefer to influence those decisions rather than implement the decisions made by the electorate and their representatives.

    • derf82@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      6 months ago

      No, it’s more like “we’re mandating you buy new textbooks to replace the moldy ones. Here is a check that only covers 20% of the costs. Oh, the ceiling of the school is also collapsing, but we won’t do anything about that. Nor will we fix the mold in the classroom that are also making the kids sick. But celebrate, new textbooks!”

      • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
        0·
        6 months ago

        That’s completely inaccurate with what we’ve already covered:

        There’s been literally hundreds of billions devoted to the other infrastructure, the “ceiling” in your scenario you are incorrectly pretending is not funded, and multiple funding measures have already passed for decades about fixing “the mold” you’re talking about, lead paint.

        Also, if we assume at our peril that your guesstimate 20% is accurate, that is 20% fewer lead pipes poisoning people.

        You are still arguing against fixing 20% of the nation’s lead pipes in favor of…not doing anything.

        “You can only replace one out of five books? Then let’s not replace any of them”.

        Not a great argument.