It was quite an honor to be in Milwaukee for President Biden's announcement of the EPA's final Lead and Copper Rule Improvements, which are focused on eradicating the 9 million remaining toxic lead water pipes over ten years. I was awestruck to be in the room surrounded by so many of the people who have played such a pivotal role in getting us to this historic achievement.
Reflecting on this moment, I can't help but be highly optimistic that we're going to get there, primarily fueled by our journey in this space, which began just over 18 months ago at Vice President Harris's Get The Lead Out Summit in Washington, DC where I had the pleasure of meeting then Wausau, WI Mayor Katie Rosenberg for the first time. Katie sat on a panel of mayors and proclaimed that Wausau had 40,000 people and 8,000 remaining lead service lines and had never replaced more than 55 lines in a given year, but come hell or high water, she was going to leverage the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) funding to replace all lines in Wausau within the five years of BIL, an audacious claim at the time, but unsurprising for anyone that has ever met Katie. Through her unwavering commitment and fearlessness in being the national guinea pig for a Community-Based Public Private Partnership (CBP3) delivery approach to removing LSLs, along with the tireless work of DPW Director Eric Lindman and his staff, we are about a month away from closing out the first year of construction, and the results couldn't be more encouraging. We are replacing 60 lines per week and closing in on the 500-line mark, well on our way to 600+, all of which are private side replacements in the most disadvantaged census tracts of Wausau. Next year, that number goes to 1,800!
We wouldn't even be here without the support and advocacy of Timothy Male of Environmental Policy Innovation Center, who first brought this issue to our attention and recognized that a CBP3 was the perfect vehicle to maximize the opportunity to not only replace lead service lines but to do it in a manner that maximized the economic development opportunities for the communities that have been most affected. In addition to Tim and Maureen Cunningham, a special thank you to the tireless efforts and commitment to this critical public health issue that made this day possible Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) Steve Fleischli, Erik D. Olson, Angela Guyadeen, Unleaded Kids,Tom Neltner, Environmental Defense Fund, Roya Alkafaji, Young, Gifted & Green™, LaTricea Adams, MAT, Ed.S., Radhika Fox, Bruno Pigott, Wendi Wilkes, US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), The Joyce Foundation, Elizabeth Cisar, Governor Tony Evers
Lastly, our success in Wausau would not be possible without the work of LIUNA, Kent Miller, Saul Castillo, Five Star Energy Services, LLC, DAAR Engineering, Inc., Hmong and Hispanic Network and Wisconsin Institute for Public Policy and Service..
#CIP #CBP3 #Wisconsin #Gettheleadout #LSLR #Infrastructure
