EDF Health

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Lead Pipe Replacement: EPA changes state shares of funding

By Roya Alkafaji / Published: April 21, 2023

Lindsay McCormick, Senior Manager, Safer Chemicals, Tom Neltner, Senior Director, Safer Chemicals and Roya Alkafaji, Manager, Healthy Communities

What Happened?

Earlier this month, EPA announced an updated formula it will use to allocate federal funds for lead service line (LSL) replacements. This new formula will be based on each state’s expected needs, as determined by a 2021 survey of state and water utility estimates.

Why It Matters

EPA’s distribution of the first of five years of the historic $15 billion dedicated to LSL replacement from the Infrastructure Improvement and Jobs Act (IIJA) was not necessarily going to states and communities that needed it most.

Many water utilities rely on the State Revolving Fund (SRF) program to build and maintain their drinking water infrastructure. EPA funds SRF programs each year and their previous formula to determine allocations was based on a 2015 survey of estimated drinking water infrastructure funding needs including LSL replacement – putting populous states like California at the top of the list. However, a 2016 article by the American Water Works Association (AWWA) showed LSLs are most heavily concentrated in the Midwest and Northeast, in states like Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, Missouri, New York, and New Jersey.

With EPA’s new formula, each state’s need, based on its estimated number of LSLs, will be used to distribute the next four years of IIJA funding for LSL replacement. This is a critical step to ensure that the system for distributing federal funds is functioning equitably and funds go to those communities with the greatest needs.

Projected Number of Lead Services Lines by State–2023

But wait…what’s going on in Florida and Texas?

When we dug into the details, there was one surprise in particular. Florida’s level of funding has increased a whopping 228%, based on a new estimate that the state has 1.2 million LSLs – more than any other state – and that about one in every six of its service lines is an LSL. Based on the age of infrastructure in the state, we think that this number is a gross overestimate. If we’re right, other states will get shorted on their share of LSL-replacement funding.

At first blush, data from Texas also caught our eye. The state reported almost 650,000 LSLs – up from 270,000 in the AWWA survey. But in contrast to Florida, this means Texas is claiming that only 5% of all its services lines are LSLs. Overall, Texas’ funding under the new formula will decrease by one-third.

What’s Next?

Starting this federal fiscal year (October 1, 2023), states will receive their new allocations of IIJA funding for LSL replacement. We’ll continue to monitor the funding flowing into each state for the critical task of getting the lead out, especially in communities that need it most. For states like Florida that may be in line for more than their fair share, we’ll be monitoring where those dollars are going.

Want to learn more?

Check out EPA’s detailed factsheet: 7th Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey and Assessment

Posted in Mapping Lead, Public health / Also tagged , , , , | Authors: / Comments are closed

Toxic Chemicals: Regulatory exemptions prioritize industry wants over safety needs

By Maria Doa, PhD, Senior Director, Chemicals Policy / Published: December 2, 2022

A rubber stamp lies on its side to the right of the photo. To the left, you see the stamped image of a skull and crossbones and the words Toxic Substances

By Maria Doa, PhD, Senior Director, Chemicals Policy

What’s the Issue?

EPA grants exemptions from full safety reviews for approximately half the new chemicals submitted by the chemical industry. Once those exemptions are granted, EPA very rarely revises or revokes them—even in the face of new information.

The Toxic Substances Control Act allows EPA to grant an exemption from a full safety review only if it determines that the chemical will not present an unreasonable risk. That’s a high standard—and one that many exemptions do not meet.

Why it Matters:

  • The chemical industry takes maximum advantage of exemptions given the abbreviated safety review and the industry’s ability to keep their use of new chemicals under the radar. For example, the chemicals that get exemptions don’t go on the national inventory of chemicals that are in use.
  • For years, EPA has granted exemptions for chemicals that can have long-term negative impacts on human health and the environment. They include hundreds of exemptions for PFAS, “forever chemicals” known to contaminate our water supplies and farmland. And it’s not just PFAS. EPA has granted exemptions for other types of persistent, bio-accumulative, toxic (PBT) chemicals that can have lasting impacts on people and the environment.
  • These exemptions often contradict TSCA’s requirement that EPA consider the risks from a chemical throughout its lifecycle. That includes the risks for vulnerable groups who may be more susceptible to the chemical or who are more highly exposed, such as frontline communities.
  • EPA does not typically consider the cumulative impacts of multiple exempted chemicals on frontline communities, consumers, or the environment.

Our Take: EPA has an important opportunity to address overuse of TSCA exemptions.

Next Steps:

  • EPA should revisit the exemptions it has already granted. The agency should determine that chemicals truly do not present an unreasonable risk—particularly to vulnerable populations—throughout their lifecycles. EPA should focus first on chemicals that can have long-lasting impacts on health and the environment, like PFAS and other PBTs.
  • Before granting any new exemptions, EPA should consider the combined impacts throughout the lifecycle of these chemicals on all stakeholders, especially frontline communities. EPA Administrator Regan recently said EPA would be embedding environmental justice into the DNA of EPA. This is another opportunity for EPA to do just that.
Posted in Frontline communities, Industry influence, Public health, TSCA / Also tagged , , , , , , | Authors: / Comments are closed

EPA greenlights 21 states’ SRF plans to fund LSL replacement projects

By Tom Neltner, Senior Director, Safer Chemicals Initiative / Published: November 16, 2022

Tom Neltner, Senior Director, Safer Chemicals

What’s New: EPA announced it has awarded $1.16 billion to the State Revolving Fund (SRF) programs in 21 states, the District of Columbia, and three territories to support lead service line (LSL) replacement projects. In order to secure funding, these states developed and submitted Intended Use Plans (IUPs), which included LSL replacement projects that met EPA’s requirements.

Why It Matters: These 25 programs can now begin distributing their share of the first of five years of funding from the $15 billion Congress included in the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) specifically for full LSL replacement projects. The remaining states are working to get their IUPs submitted to EPA.

Read More »

Posted in Drinking water, Lead, Public health / Also tagged , , , , , | Comments are closed

ICYMI: EDF Cumulative Risk Assessment Framework Webinar

By Maria Doa, PhD, Senior Director, Chemicals Policy / Published: September 12, 2022

On Wednesday, September 7, 2022, Sarah Vogel, EDF’s Senior Vice President for Health, welcomed over 150 attendees to a webinar on EDF’s new Cumulative Risk Assessment Framework (CRAF). The event featured presentations by:

  • Lariah Edwards, PhD, EDF post-doctoral fellow and Associate Research Scientist, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University.
  • Devon Payne-Sturges, DrPh, Associate Professor, Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health, School of Public Health, University of Maryland.
  • Deborah Cory-Slechta, PhD, Professor of Environmental Medicine, Pediatrics, Public Health Sciences, and Neurosciences, University of Rochester Medical Center.

EDF staff developed this new tool to provide a practical pathway for applying comprehensive, cumulative chemical risk evaluations within the framework of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).

The tool is designed to support EPA’s mandate under TSCA to provide: 1) A holistic consideration of chemical risks, and 2) Special consideration of those who may be at greater risk because they are more susceptible to a chemical’s effects or more highly exposed.

The framework begins with the evaluation of a single chemical and moves toward an approach that takes into account multiple chemical exposures, as well as other, non-chemical stressors—like racism, poverty, and lack of access to health care. In combination, these factors lead to higher risks of disease and disability from cancers and heart disease to poor birth outcomes and childhood asthma.

For more information on the Framework, visit our new CRAF webpage, where you can download the in-depth report on the development of the framework and watch a recording of the webinar.

Posted in Health policy / Also tagged , , , , | Comments are closed

EPA’s new Collaborative Research Program – A step toward improving new chemical reviews under TSCA

By Maria Doa, PhD, Senior Director, Chemicals Policy / Published: May 16, 2022

Maria Doa, Ph.D., Senior Director, Chemicals Policy; Lauren Ellis, MPH, Research Analyst; and Lariah Edwards, Ph.D., Post-Doctoral Fellow 

The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) recently filed comments on EPA’s Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Collaborative Research Program to Support New Chemical Reviews (Collaborative Research Program). The Collaborative Research Program is a multi-year scientific partnership between the agency’s Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT) and Office of Research and Development (ORD) aimed at modernizing the methods, approaches, and tools used to evaluate new chemicals under TSCA.  

We strongly support OPPT’s collaboration with ORD, which has a breadth of scientific expertise across EPA’s different research programs. As such, ORD will help OPPT implement the best available science in its new chemical assessments, which should ultimately prevent risky chemicals from entering the marketplace. We urge OPPT to use this opportunity – and ORD’s expertise – to improve and expand its consideration of new chemical impacts to frontline communities, the risks new chemicals may pose throughout their entire life cycle, as well as cumulative risks from chemicals that may cause similar health effects. 

Below we outline the five proposed research areas for new chemicals under the Collaborative Research Program and our comments on each. All five can have an important impact on EPA’s new chemical assessments and consequently on EPA’s determination on whether a new chemical is expected to present an unreasonable risk.  Read More »

Posted in New approach methods (NAMs), TSCA reform / Also tagged , | Authors: / Comments are closed

Civil rights complaint draws attention to the discriminatory impacts of common lead pipe replacement practice

By / Published: January 7, 2022

Jennifer Ortega, Research Analyst, Environmental Health

This past Wednesday, Rhode Island’s Childhood Lead Action Project (CLAP) led a coalition of groups in submitting a civil rights complaint to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) against the Providence Water Supply Board (Providence Water), pursuant to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The administrative complaint highlights the discriminatory effects that can result when utilities require customers to share the cost of replacing the lead pipes that feed into their homes. The complaint was submitted as part of CLAP’s larger Lead-Free Water RI campaign, which calls “for an equitable, statewide plan for full, free lead pipe replacements for all Rhode Islanders.”

In the complaint, CLAP, South Providence Neighborhood Association, Direct Action for Rights and Equality, National Center for Healthy Housing, and EDF allege that the water utility’s process of replacing lead service lines (LSLs) — the lead pipes that run from the water main to the water meter in homes — has a disparate impact on Black, Latinx, and Native American residents in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and EPA’s implementing regulations. Read More »

Posted in Drinking water, Lead, Public health / Also tagged , , | Comments are closed