The Michigan delegation in Congress is pushing legislation that would require the Environmental Protection Agency to speak up when their tests show unsafe levels of lead in drinking water.
Introduced on Thursday by Republican Rep. Fred Upton and Democratic Rep. Dan Kildee, and co-sponsored by the other 12 Michigan lawmakers from both parties, the Safe Drinking Water Act Improved Compliance Awareness Act aims to prevent future lead water crises.
The EPA has been ripped for sitting on its hands despite having proof that water in some Flint homes had very high levels of lead in their drinking water. An EPA researcher in February 2015 tested one home that had so much lead in its water that it was past the level considered hazardous waste.
But, when those findings were brought to the regional EPA administrator, Susan Hedman, they were not released publicly. When the results were made public in June, Hedman apologized to state officials and emphasized that they were only a preliminary report.
She then directed the researcher who had been working in Flint to defer to state authorities and to no longer speak about what he found.
That has outraged lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. Kildee, who is Flint’s congressman and a native of the eastern Michigan city, said people need to be told about this type of situation immediately.
“This legislation, supported by Democrats and Republicans, strengthens notification requirements for the public and changes federal law to ensure that people are notified quickly when there are dangerous levels of lead in their drinking water,” he said. “This is the latest action I’m taking in Congress to promote accountability and help Flint recover from this terrible man-made tragedy.”
The bill would require the EPA to notify the public when lead in drinking water is above federal requirements, which is 15 parts per billion. It also would require the EPA to make a plan for handling information coming from water utilities, state authorities, the EPA and customers.
The agency would be required to notify customers when water sources are so corrosive that they may cause lead pipes to leach into drinking water. The Flint River water used by the city since April 2014 ate away at the lead pipes bringing drinking water to homes because it was so acidic.
Michigan Sens. Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow, both Democrats, have introduced a similar bill in the Senate.
Upton, the most powerful Michigan lawmaker in Congress as the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, is leading the effort on oversight of the EPA and Michigan Department of Environmental Quality’s actions during the crisis.
Upton and New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone, the top Democrat on the committee, sent another letter to the EPA and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality looking for more information about the crisis. The two also sent a letter earlier this year and committee staffers received multiple closed-door briefings with EPA water staff.
As a means of follow-up, the committee wants to know from the EPA what the specific roles and responsibilities are for federal, state and city authorities during the response, how long it will take for the corrosion control to take effect so Flint residents can drink out of the tap again and whether it scaled back its enforcement of the Safe Drinking Water Act before the crisis became apparent.
The lawmakers also want to know why the the Michigan environment agency hasn’t provided information requested by the EPA in November and when the EPA last performed a compliance audit on the state agency. The committee also wants all briefing materials from the state agency for federal, state and local officials from January 2013 until now about the Flint drinking water system.
“What happened in Flint is simply unacceptable at all levels. No amount of regrets or words can actually fix what’s broken — we need concrete action,” Upton said.
