Administrator Michael Regan, Remarks on Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Funding to Replace Lead Pipes in Wisconsin and Across the Country, As Prepared for Delivery

January 24, 2022

Thank you, Senator Baldwin, for that introduction and for your leadership.

Congresswoman Moore, it’s great to be with you in your district.

It’s an honor to be here with Vice President Harris, who has spent her career fighting for equity and justice. Thank you, Madame Vice President, for all that you’ve done and continue to do to protect underserved communities.

I am here today as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. But I am also a father. And like any parent, my number one priority is the health and safety of my eight-year-old son.

And yet there are mothers and fathers across this country who know the pain of having a child sickened by contaminated water.

The tragedy of lead exposure is shared by too many communities, especially Black and Latino communities. A recent study found that Black children living below the poverty level in the United States are four times more likely to have elevated levels of lead in their blood.

This injustice affects our biggest cities, and it impacts small towns and communities across rural America.

Back in November, during our Journey to Justice tour, I visited communities whose lives have been upended by our nation’s crumbling water infrastructure.

When I was in Jackson, Mississippi, I was set to meet with students at an elementary school. But on the morning of our visit, school wound up being cancelled due to low water pressure. And just hours after I visited a water treatment facility, the plant was forced to partially shut down, resulting in a boil water advisory for much of the city.

And throughout our tour, I spoke to mothers and fathers whose children have been exposed to lead through the water they drink.

It is a moral imperative that no child and no family is left to drink dirty water.

At EPA, we follow the science, and the science on lead is settled. There is no safe level of exposure. Not for children and not for adults.

Lead-poisoned children are more likely to struggle academically, experience behavior problems, and drop out of school. Early life exposures to lead can also result in adverse health impacts later in life, including high blood pressure, heart and kidney disease, and reduced fertility.

You’ve heard me say it before, and I’ll say it again. It is time to get the lead out. EPA is committed to using every tool available to eliminate this injustice.

Thanks to the President and Vice President’s leadership, EPA is distributing $7.4 billion in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding this year for states, Tribes, and territories.

As part of this investment, Wisconsin will receive $142.7 million in 2022 for water infrastructure, including more than $48 million dedicated to removing lead pipes that have plagued communities for far too long. And there will be more to come over the next five years.

Now, the Vice President and I are here today, visiting Big Step, because we want to meet the water workforce of tomorrow – the people who are being trained as we speak to get the lead pipes out of the ground.

You see, in addition to protecting people’s health, investing in water infrastructure is also about putting people to work. The $142.7 million coming to Wisconsin this year is expected to create 2,200 jobs – many of which will be right here in Milwaukee.

Investing in our water infrastructure is one of the best decisions we can make as a nation – for public health and environmental protection, for job creation and the future economic vitality of our communities.

And we’re going to make sure that the communities most in need get the funding they deserve.

I sent a letter to every governor of every state, sharing detailed information about this Administration’s goals for states to target water infrastructure funds to underserved communities. And we will continue to work closely with our state partners… on both sides of the aisle… to ensure that this historic investment reaches our most vulnerable communities.

Our work is not complete until every child in the United States of America has access to clean, safe drinking water. And we will not rest until the job is done and done right.

It is now my pleasure to introduce, Deanna Branch, a Milwaukee resident whose family has been impacted by lead exposure.