EPA Administrator Michael Regan highlighted the Biden administration’s goal to replace “100 percent of lead service lines and pipes” during testimony last week before a House appropriations subcommittee on the administration’s budget request for the 2022 fiscal year.
Appearing before the House Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee, Regan’s written testimony discussed several components of President Biden’s American Jobs Plan, including its proposal to spend $45 billion to replace all lead service lines from coast to coast. However, the plan is silent on how replacement of privately-owned lead service lines would be achieved, and Administrator Regan did not offer additional details in his testimony.
Administrator Regan’s testimony went on to praise EPA’s State Revolving Fund and Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) programs, each of which would be in line for millions of additional dollars between the Jobs Plan and the FY22 budget request. In response to questioning, Regan said the agency is “moving in an expedited fashion” to develop drinking water standards for PFOA and PFOS, two well-studied per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).
Administrator Regan will be back before lawmakers this Wednesday when he appears before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and again on Thursday when he testifies on the FY22 budget at a hearing of the House Environment and Climate Change Subcommittee.