Declining federal aid threatens lead cleanup in cities

Halle Parker, Tribune News Service

Tighter regulations and an influx of federal money in recent years have helped communities across the US initiate efforts to clean up lead contamination in soil, drinking water, and older homes. But Congress and the Trump administration have partially rolled back those rules and resources, potentially making it more challenging for cash-strapped cities and towns to undertake sweeping lead remediation programmes. That’s the case in New Orleans, where an investigation by Verite News found high lead levels in about half of the playgrounds on city property and found detectable levels of the toxic metal in most homes that tested their drinking water in a voluntary programme.

No level of lead exposure is safe, according to federal environmental officials, but undertaking a comprehensive cleanup can be financially prohibitive. New Orleans is facing a $220 million budget deficit that has led to city employee furloughs and layoffs. Congress allocated $15 billion over five years to lead pipe replacement under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, a Biden-era measure set to expire at the end of this year. In 2024, the Environmental Protection Agency also tightened the standards for lead-contaminated soil for the first time in 30 years and mandated that water systems replace all lead service lines by late 2037.

But a spending package passed by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump in January redirected $125 million of that lead remediation money to wildfire prevention. And since October, the EPA has partially rolled back protections against soil contamination, raising the federal hazard level in urban areas and the threshold for removing contaminated soil.

Tom Neltner, the national director of the nonprofit advocacy group Unleaded Kids, said it was the first time an administration had loosened the limits on lead in soil. “ We’ve seen the Trump administration say positive things about its commitment to lead but then take actions that undermine that,” Neltner said. But, he added, progress is still being made in some communities. EPA press secretary Brigit Hirsch said the changes made under the Trump administration have reduced confusion and uncertainty that could hamper cleanup efforts. “The Trump EPA’s record on protecting Americans — especially American children — from lead is unmatched,” Hirsch said in an emailed statement. “In just the last year, the Trump EPA backed up its commitment to reducing lead exposure in children with BILLIONS of dollars and historic action.”

She cited a November EPA announcement of $3 billion available to pay for water pipe replacement. That money is from the 2021 infrastructure law passed during the Biden administration. Verite News spoke with people in Michigan, Indiana, and Rhode Island to learn how they addressed their lead pollution, with the aim of finding options that could be applied in New Orleans and other cities. “ We don’t need to do research on lead anymore,” said Tulane University professor Felicia Rabito, an epidemiologist who researches the toxic metal and its sources. “What we need are policies to get the lead out of the environment.”

Benton Harbor, a predominantly Black beach town of about 9,000 people on the southeastern shore of Lake Michigan, spent three years out of compliance with federal drinking water standards. The concentration of lead in the water remained dangerously high until residents and organizations petitioned the EPA in 2021, drawing responses from state and federal officials. “Nobody should be drinking lead in their water for this long,” said Elin Betanzo, an engineer who provided the petitioning residents with technical support. That year, federal officials issued an enforcement order for the Michigan city to bring its water supply into compliance, and the state required Benton Harbor to replace all its lead pipes within 18 months. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, committed to securing funding in the state budget for the $35 million effort, which included bottled water distribution and paying outstanding water bills for low-income residents. The state, alongside the city, allocated money from its general fund, secured regional water loans, and cobbled together grants from several federal programs to cover the total.

By the end of 2023, city officials had completed the project. Now it’s one of 21 municipalities in Michigan that have replaced all their lead pipes. Benton Harbor had more than 4,500 pipes to replace. The Trump administration has said it would defend the Biden-era mandate for lead pipe replacement by 2037 against a lawsuit challenging it. Betanzo recommended that utilities in other cities reduce barriers to line replacement to increase efficiency, as Benton Harbor’s water system did. City officials saved time after assuming most pipes would be lead. They decided to go street by street, digging up, inspecting, and replacing nearly every pipe. If the pipe wasn’t lead, it wasn’t replaced, but nearly all were, Betanzo said. Concentrating the mass replacement in one zone at a time made the contracts more cost-effective, Betanzo added. Contractors bid on zones in the city, and multiple contractors worked in different neighborhoods simultaneously. For transparency, progress was published on a public database.

The city also passed a law requiring lead lines be replaced, including those on customers’ side of the water meter. All residents had to allow the contractors onto their property or face disconnection. The residents didn’t pay for the line replacements. “ The health benefits of lead service line replacement are greatest the sooner you get it done,” Betanzo noted, referencing a 2023 study she co-authored.