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Biden administration announces plan to replace 100% of lead pipes in US homes
The Biden administration on Thursday announced a "whole of government strategy" to remove dangerous lead from Americans' drinking water, including billions of dollars to begin replacing 100% of the lead pipes servicing the nation's homes.
Environmental groups praised the plan, which includes a promise to begin the process of strengthening the nation's drinking water standards to reflect the science showing that lead is toxic for children at any level.
But lawyers at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), which has been leading efforts to fight lead, said they worry that the plan lacks a solid timeline and fails to deliver enforceable requirements.
The set of actions announced by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) included the release of the first $2.9bn of $15bn approved in Biden's infrastructure plan for local water agencies to begin replacing lead pipes and called for the efforts to focus on the low-income communities who face the most risk of lead poisoning. It also listed 15 new actions across 10 federal agencies to address lead dangers from both water and paint.
(Score: 0, Insightful) by Snotnose on Friday December 17 2021, @10:17PM (40 children)
The guy has already shown he doesn't care about the deficit. After adding 3.5 trillion to it, what's another few billion?
Not saying this isn't a good thing, but how the hell ya gonna pay for it?
Relationship status: Available for curbside pickup.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 17 2021, @10:20PM (2 children)
The Treasury Dept. owns printing presses. Just print more money!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 17 2021, @11:27PM
Works for making tax cuts too!
(Score: 3, Informative) by fustakrakich on Saturday December 18 2021, @01:00AM
No, Wall Street does, through the fed.. Whining about the "deficit" is a silly distraction
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 5, Informative) by DannyB on Friday December 17 2021, @10:23PM (15 children)
It is funny that now that Biden is in office, all of a sudden the debt suddenly matters to some people.
Trump’s most enduring legacy could be the historic rise in the national debt [washingtonpost.com]
Donald Trump Built a National Debt So Big (Even Before the Pandemic) That It’ll Weigh Down the Economy for Years [propublica.org]
Google "trump deficit" easily turns up many more links.
If you think a fertilized egg is a child but an immigrant child is not, please don't pretend your concerns are religious
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 17 2021, @10:35PM (8 children)
Under Biden has inflation gone through the roof. The highest in decades. The Democrats' spending is the direct and obvious cause, and this level of inflation makes everyone poorer.
(Score: 5, Informative) by fishybell on Friday December 17 2021, @10:56PM (5 children)
Ah, yes, truisms vs. evidence.
While the pandemic bills that gave cash directly to citizens definitely added to the current inflation problems, it wasn't the only thing, or even necessarily the main thing. There might have been a slight pandemic that induced problems with global supply chains as well. That might have had something to do with it.
But yes, let us spout the truism of "direct and obvious cause" without any evidence.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 18 2021, @07:07AM (2 children)
If it was Trump or COVID or something else, why did inflation take so long to kick into high gear?
Similar connected question: why did the supply chain problems take so long to manifest, almost 2 years later?
I think blaming it on COVID is just as specious.
Possible cause is that COVID relief money is drying up and people are demanding back payments, for example.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday December 18 2021, @01:50PM
Well, how long did it really take? For example, deficits [thebalance.com] in recent years were below 5% until 2020 (it's still a hideous growth rate). We've since had two years of deficit growth above 10%. At a glance, the last two years have seen deficits at least 3 times larger than in previous years. And there's lag on that money hitting the economy. So it looks consistent to me.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 18 2021, @11:32PM
If it was pressure from on high to show how wonderfully fast the ship was that caused the sinking, why did it take until nearly the end of the voyage for the Titanic to sink?
It's ALMOST like policy decisions that lead to third, fourth and fifth-order effects take a bit of time to show up in large, complex systems. Whodathunkit?
Meanwhile, the people who like neat, simple solutions and who vote for politicians that misrepresent big, complicated problems as simple, easily solved ones, point out how absurd it is that X may have caused Y, when Y took two years to manifest after X...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 19 2021, @11:17PM (1 child)
While I do blame Biden and the democrats for some of the inflation I can't blame it all on them.
The chip shortage thing started before Biden it just didn't really become that noticeable until after Biden got into office.
While I don't blame Trump for it I would say it started about two years or so before Trump. I used to keep track of prices of computers and video cards and the prices of everything bottomed out about two years or so before Biden was elected. After that they slowly started increasing.
I would say there are multiple factors. Some of it is inflation, sure. Some of it also seems to correlated with the advent of crypto. Some of it also seems to be correlated with all the tech mergers and acquisitions that have been occurring over the past decades before. There is less competition. Some of it is the fact that chips are in everything now compared to before. There are more people as well and so more demand for chips and the raw materials. More businesses have been starting websites, adding computers and tech, going digital, etc... so more demand.
Yeah, during the pandemic, more people bought tech to work from home as well. More demand.
Some if it may be due to more patents, lawsuits, etc... though I would say that's not a huge factor.
I'm sure there are other factors. It's hard to say but it's also hard to blame it on Biden, or any one person, as this has been going on before him.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 19 2021, @11:18PM
err ... I would say it started about two years or so before Biden got elected (not Trump *). While Trump was in office. Don't know why I mistyped that *
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 17 2021, @10:57PM
Yeah, like covid never happened - damn virus must be democratic conspiracy or something.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday December 20 2021, @02:47PM
Trump spending -- does not cause inflation.
Biden spending -- does cause inflation.
Ah, right.
If you think a fertilized egg is a child but an immigrant child is not, please don't pretend your concerns are religious
(Score: 5, Insightful) by istartedi on Friday December 17 2021, @11:54PM
This comes up again and again. Both sides have their respective axes to grind. Both sides can use absolute figures, or pretend to normalize data to suit their ends. One seemingly effective way around this is to use, instead of nominal dollars, the percentage by which the debt increased during their administration. Submitted for your consideration that even that is not sufficient. Why? Because merely owing a lot of money is only half the picture. The other half of the picture is your ability to pay it back. Based on that, I consider the Debt to GDP ratio [stlouisfed.org] to perhaps be the least biased method, although since I'm making a selection there's the possibility of selection bias.
When looking at that chart, the big take-away is that when it comes to debt the 2008 housing/financial crisis and Covid are the two big increases in recent decades. If it went back further, WW2 would also loom large.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Saturday December 18 2021, @02:56AM (3 children)
Every administration in my lifetime has seen "historic" debt. Every single one. Clinton slowed the debt down, but he didn't repay or cancel a single dollar's worth of debt. When the Phat Lady sings, Biden will have presided over another historic debt.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 18 2021, @09:21PM
That's why we MUST stop him.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Joe Desertrat on Sunday December 19 2021, @01:36AM (1 child)
Maybe, but it is the Republican administrations, at least from Reagan on, that have created the budget deficits that have led to the greatest increases in debt. Reagan increased the debt from roughly 1 trillion to roughly 3.5 trillion. Some excuse that by claiming he entered into an arm race with the Soviets that bankrupted them, but he could have accomplished the exact same thing with nearly zero increase in debt. Our economy would be much stronger today as a result, but of course the billionaires would not be as well off. Clinton got 2 years to try to reverse the damage of the Reagan/Reagan/Bush I administrations before the Republicans took the House and Newt Gingrich promised that he would oppose everything Clinton tried in order to make his administration fail (damn anyone that needed help). When Clinton left office he left Bush II with a near balanced budget, which Bush II immediately trashed. He turned a budget surplus into a deficit his first year, a record deficit his second year, and an increasing deficit every year he was in office. He handed Obama an economy that was on the verge of a depression, yet any percentage increases in the deficit in Obama's eight years were less than the lowest Bush II managed. Trump immediately raised budget deficits higher than ever, with no aim other than to enrich the already wealthy. He accomplished that, just look at how much the wealth of billionaires increased during the pandemic while nearly everyone else suffered. Biden may initially raise the debt higher, but at least it is with the aim of accomplishing something that will benefit the poor and middle class and by extension the real economy, that which affects 90% of Americans, and it is likely budget deficits will shrink as a result.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday December 19 2021, @05:54AM
Spin it whichever way makes you feel good. The fact is, congress appropriates the funds, and writes the budget. Yes, it's a given that the prez influences the budget, and the prez can veto a budget, but congress has final say over the budget. The Clinton administration presided over the most-balanced budget since - ohhh - about the 1880s I guess? But that was only because he had line-item veto for a couple years. He enjoyed an ability to trim fat that no other president has enjoyed. People give Clinton a lot of credit, but I think he gets too much credit. Congress and the courts promptly put an end to a power they feared.
I won't argue the rest of that - but history says our debt only rises, it never goes down. Our nation is addicted to spending, and has no concept of balance, or budget. Every congress makes a joke of the idea of budgeting.
Now, I'll wait for those comments suggesting that a balanced budget would be an evil thing, bringing on plagues of biblical proportions. A balanced budget is the most-feared possibility of mankind's existence, etc etc blah blah blah . . .
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by mcgrew on Saturday December 18 2021, @09:32PM
And don't forget, the first Bush left Clinton with a record deficit and a recession. The second Bush went into office with a balanced budget and a booming economy. He left Obama a record deficit and record recession.
The Republicans only give a shit about their deficits after they leave them to Democrats.
Carbon, The only element in the known universe to ever gain sentience
(Score: 5, Insightful) by srobert on Friday December 17 2021, @10:36PM (15 children)
I was a plumber when they were still making solder with lead content that was frequently used on pipes that carried drinking water. We were supposed to use the tin-antimony solder, but I'm sure that some of my colleagues got them mixed up, since I nearly did so myself on several occasions.
Interesting fun fact on the etymology of "plumber" and "plumbing". They come from the Latin "plumb", meaning lead. Notice the chemical symbol for lead is Pb. The Roman empire may have suffered through a period when many of it's leadership had succumbed to lead poisoning because of the use of lead pipes in the homes of wealthy Romans. Maybe it's not so bad for modern America because lead pipes are only in the homes of plebeians.
Whenever we want to build another aircraft carrier no body says, "How you gonna pay for that?". Maybe a better question is "How are we gonna pay for failing to replace lead pipes in homes?".
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 17 2021, @11:33PM (6 children)
The same way we paid for clean water, sewage, environmental protection, medicare, work safety, etc.
Or is fixing lead pipes just TOO big?
(Score: 3, Funny) by driverless on Saturday December 18 2021, @01:45PM (5 children)
Well, for one thing getting rid of lead pipes would lead to a huge drop in Fox viewership.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 18 2021, @04:12PM (4 children)
Did you mean CNN commentators?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 18 2021, @08:58PM (2 children)
For real, why does CNN even host Republican traitors at this point?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 18 2021, @09:26PM
Because having R-party corporate anus sniffers helps balance out the D-party corporate cock suckers. It's good for credibility.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 19 2021, @04:20AM
They keep on firing the Democratic pedos.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 19 2021, @06:20PM
Honestly, both, they're both more or less jobs programs for the criminally incompetent.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Username on Saturday December 18 2021, @12:42AM (3 children)
The question is, why does this require federal money and federal contractors? The feds should just be protecting the country from foreign invasion, negotiating with other countries, and ensuring interstate travel and commerce. Why are they replacing pipes on the house down the street? Overreach much? Why isn't the city doing that? Why isn't the state doing that?
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 18 2021, @01:10AM
Funny how federal corruption is surpassed only by state/local corruption. Leave the states to themselves and we'll repeat the first half of the 1860s...
(Score: 3, Insightful) by mcgrew on Saturday December 18 2021, @09:38PM (1 child)
For the same reason President Eisenhower championed the Interstate Highway System. Or are you against that, too? I swear, if Democrats came out for a stronger second amendment you Republicans would try to repeal that amendment.
Carbon, The only element in the known universe to ever gain sentience
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 19 2021, @11:33PM
Did you see what happened when Reagan was governor in California and the group with the highest purchases per capita was Black Americans? Even the NRA lobbied for gun control then.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 18 2021, @04:27AM
We don't.
??
(Score: 4, Informative) by bzipitidoo on Saturday December 18 2021, @05:29AM (2 children)
Lead is such an exasperating problem. Is it so costly to avoid lead? NO! One way is to use bismuth brass. Do we doubt that lead is unhealthy? NO! The Romans actually figured that out, but kept using it. And here we are, in America 2000 years later, still using lead. Why? To save a few cents up front, careless of the costs down the road. Manufacturers' tooling lasts longer because the lead makes the brass softer. Hell of a reason to poison everyone. The costs are far greater than the savings. Lead poisoning makes people stupider and more violent. The Europeans are smarter.
The Romans used lead all over the place, not just in plumbing. They lined their pots with lead based glaze. The upper class even sprinkled lead salts in their wine, to sweeten it.
Brass can be up to 8% lead. In 2014, standards were tightened greatly, reducing the maximum allowed lead content of brass to 0.25%. But, there's a huge loophole. The new standard only applies to faucets for "drinking water". Only the kitchen and bathroom sinks are covered. Bathtubs, showers, and exterior faucets are NOT. When we needed a new bathtub faucet, I tried to find one that conformed to the new 0.25% standard. There were none. I called a dozen manufacturers, and none of them, not even the luxury ones, offered a low lead bathtub faucet. I thought that since they had to do it for sinks, it would be no big deal to offer the same for tubs, for customers who wanted that.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Saturday December 18 2021, @07:17AM
I haven't searched online, but I'd guess CA would have tighter standards, or Canada (CSA), maybe get one that's approved there?
Is RoHS used to qualify plumbing?
How about stainless steel parts?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 18 2021, @12:46PM
(Score: 4, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 17 2021, @10:53PM
Tax bezoses and musks.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 18 2021, @12:24AM
It's kind of interesting that when the spending is to help ordinary people, there's a ton of hand-wringing about the deficit, but when it's tax cuts for the rich and powerful or more bombs to kill brown people in foreign countries, we've got the money for that. During the great recession, we could have bought all the distressed property underlying the crisis for a fraction of the cost of bailing out the financial institutions. In this case, rather than give everybody financial support, we get a bunch of loans that didn't make it to people that actually needed help.
We had $20k per unemployed person, but no money for essential workers after giving all those PPP loans.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 18 2021, @05:51PM
According to the Shabbos Goy Husk Puppet Biden, Whitey has to pay to change the plumbing for NoC (Niggers of Color) because the Jews brought them over as property. Meanwhile Whites replace their own goddamn pipes without begging like stray dogs.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by mcgrew on Saturday December 18 2021, @09:27PM (1 child)
As if the previous president did? You know, the one who spent almost that much lowering his own taxes (but not yours or mine)?
You Republicans seem to have forgotten the difference between an expenditure and an investment. Trump's fiscal inanity was an expenditure, Biden's is an investment.
Ever hear of Dwight Eisenhower? Republican president, spent shitloads building the interstate highway system and NASA. Those are investments that paid the kind of dividends Biden is hoping for, we'll see. In the '50s Republicans knew the difference between an expenditure and an investment, but apparently no longer.
PS: your house payment is an investment. Your car payment is an expenditure. Learn the difference or suffer.
Carbon, The only element in the known universe to ever gain sentience
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 18 2021, @09:30PM
And that money we spent on Trump golf carts... I'm gonna go with... investment?