Environmental Protection Agency administrator Michael Regan visited Milwaukee Tuesday to discuss a bipartisan infrastructure framework that would support the city’s efforts to replace senior service lines – an estimated $ 800 million project that federal aid says is accelerating could be.
Regan met with local guides to tour a water infrastructure project and learn about the city’s progress in replacing plumbing connections.
The $ 1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure framework sponsored by the Biden administration includes the goal of eliminating all lead supply lines and lines in the country. This also includes providing all houses with high-speed internet and repairing roads and bridges.
“We don’t have to choose between jobs, resilient infrastructure and preparation for climate change. This is an opportunity to do all three, ”Regan said of the proposal.
President Joe Biden also stopped in Wisconsin last week to present the infrastructure framework days after the deal nearly collapsed. In May, Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh visited Milwaukee, where he toured a lead pipe replacement project and raised concerns about childcare availability.
The plan would help Milwaukee make progress in replacing the lead line
US Senator Tammy Baldwin and members of the Milwaukee Water Equity Task Force met with Regan at the Sixteenth Street Community Health Center to discuss the city’s progress in sharing leadership services.
Regan said the EPA wants to develop the right criteria to help federal funds flow to partnerships like Milwaukee’s that are already working to fill infrastructure gaps.
“We’re not reinventing the wheel, we have an existing program that allows us to enforce these resources to make it available to those most in need,” Regan said.
Current estimates put the cost of replacing all leading service lines in Milwaukee at nearly $ 800 million. Since 2017, the city has replaced more than 3,800 of the 70,000 existing lines.
Lead poisoning can have lifelong consequences, especially in young children. The Wisconsin Department of Health reported in 2018 that 9.2% of children 5 years of age or younger in Milwaukee have blood lead levels above 5 µg / dL when parents and other officials are alerted to take action.
City officials said federal funding was essential to continue their lead-line replacement efforts. The state budget proposed by the Republican-led state legislature does not include the $ 40 million Democratic Governor Tony Evers proposed to replace the main line.
Milwaukee faces a historic opportunity to replace lead paint and tubing with federal funding pouring into the city. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett hopes to use funds from the city’s US bailout plan of $ 394.2 million to clean up lead paint and hopes to see more funds from the infrastructure plan to help lead sites to eliminate.
“There’s absolutely no way we can move at the speed we want to move if we didn’t have federal involvement,” Barrett said.
Barrett said federal funding would help the city work with the workforce development agency Employ Milwaukee to increase the workforce that will replace the lead lines and pipes.
“When we talk about exchanging lead service lines, human resource development is vital. We want to make sure we are building a workforce with sustainable skills that can be transferred to other areas, ”added Karen Dettmer, Superintendent of Milwaukee Water Works.
The Biden government estimates that Wisconsin’s drinking water infrastructure will require $ 8.6 billion in funding over the next 20 years. The framework includes $ 55 billion for clean drinking water efforts.
Preston Cole, minister for the Department of Natural Resources, said equity will be an important consideration when it comes to where federal funds go. He said that 110 cities and villages in the state still have leading sides and that Milwaukee will not be the only city benefiting from the infrastructure plan.
“We have to go on the offensive and stay on the offensive,” said Cole.
More:Milwaukee’s Chronic Lead Problem: Dr. Veneshia McKinney-Whitson explains what parents can do to keep their children safe
More:What You Need To Know About Lead: A Resource Guide For Milwaukee Residents
More:With millions of federal dollars flowing into Milwaukee, the city faces a historic opportunity to make advances in lead procurement
President has ‘laser focus’ on PFAS
Several areas in Wisconsin, including Marinette, La Crosse, Milwaukee, and Madison, are grappling with another water quality issue – contamination from PFAS, or “forever chemicals.”
The state is making progress in setting standards for PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in groundwater and drinking water, but the standards are likely to be rejected by Republicans in the legislature.
The EPA has not yet regulated PFAS, but has issued health recommendations for two of the substances. Regan said Biden had a “laser focus” on the PFAS contamination.
“We really want to focus on establishing a drinking water standard that addresses PFAS,” said Regan. “Number two, there are resources in the President’s budget calling for EPA to focus on researching and mitigating ubiquitous PFAS situations across the country. So it is not being left out of the range of options the President is trying to take advantage of. “
Local guides will meet in Pulaski Park, the site of the restoration project
Regan also stopped in Pulaski Park, where the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District has restored the Kinnickinnic River to a natural stream to reduce the risk of flooding.
Local leaders highlighted the partnerships between governments and community members who supported the project.
“To look around in that crowd and see the state, see the county, see the city, see the community, this is a model of what we want to see across the country,” Regan said.
Communities across Wisconsin are adapting to flooding as climate change brings more rainfall. The infrastructure framework includes $ 47 billion for infrastructure resilience and helping communities recover from extreme weather events.
Biden has urged that additional laws focusing on “human infrastructure” be passed along with the bipartisan plan as part of the reconciliation process, which allows some laws to move forward by majority vote rather than regular Senate rules that have 60 votes require. Some Democrats are calling for more climate provisions to be included in the second bill.
Baldwin said lawmakers were working on a framework for the budget reconciliation law during the current hiatus in Congress. She said the infrastructure deal would be converted into law and could sit in the Senate the week of July 19.
“I like the idea that recognizes that people can have opportunities and well-paying jobs to push that vision through, and we won’t get one without the other. So it’s going to be a really important addition, ”said Baldwin.
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