Biden Administration Postpones Trump Lead and Copper Rule Changes
March 12, 2021
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency) is proposing to delay until December 16, 2021, the effective date of the National Primary Drinking Water Regulations: Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR), which was published in the Federal Register on January 15, 2021.
The delay will allow sufficient time for EPA to complete its review of the rule in accordance with those directives and conduct important consultations with affected parties.
EPA is also proposing to delay the January 16, 2024, compliance date established in the LCRR to September 16, 2024.
The proposed delay in the compliance date of the LCRR ensures that any delay in the effective date will not reduce the time provided for drinking water systems and primacy states to take actions needed to assure compliance with the LCRR.
January 20, 2021 (updated February 7, 2021)
The Biden regulatory freeze applies to rules that have been published in the Federal Register but have not yet taken effect. The memo calls for the effective dates to be postponed for 60 days, effective January 20, 2021, “for the purpose of reviewing any questions of fact, law and policy the rules may raise.”
The memo calls for rules postponed in this manner, during the 60-day period, where appropriate and consistent with applicable law, consider opening a 30-day comment period to allow interested parties to provide comments about issues of fact, law, and policy raised by those rules, and consider pending petitions for reconsideration involving such rules.
Additionally, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, and where necessary to continue to review these questions of fact, law, and policy, consider further delaying, or publishing for notice and comment proposed rules further delaying, such rules beyond the 60-day period.
This will probably be welcomed news to the environmental and civil rights groups who are currently suing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over the new Trump lead rule. They argue the rule doesn’t do enough to force cities to move quickly to remove the estimated 6 million lead service lines across the country that deliver lead-tainted water into homes.
“This rule is a major disappointment,” Suzanne Novak, an Earthjustice attorney leading the case, said in a release. “Communities exposed to dangerous levels of lead in water expected the new rule to focus on removing lead pipes from the ground, the actual remedy to keep families safe. Instead, the new rule took a huge step backwards by slowing down the replacement rate of lead service lines. The Trump administration is failing the country once again, this time as it walks out the door. Children will continue to be poisoned, with no end in sight.”
The NAACP, United Parents Against Lead, Newburgh Clean Water Project and the Sierra Club all joined the suit, which petitions the court to review the legality of the rule.
The Natural Resources Defense Council also filed a similar but separate suit challenging the rule.
“Have we learned nothing from Flint? The Trump EPA’s weak and illegal rule will condemn another generation of children to drinking lead-tainted tap water,” Erik Olson, Natural Resources Defense Council’s senior strategic director for health, said in a release.
It seems likely that the new Lead and Copper Rule, along with many other Trump era rule changes and additions, will be altered once the Biden administration fully takes charge.
A regulatory freeze is common practice for an incoming presidential administration. President Trump issued a similar freeze when he was sworn into office in 2017.
Trump administration EPA actions for review include:
National Primary Drinking Water Regulations: Lead and Copper Rule Revisions,” 86 Fed. Reg. 4198 (January 15, 2021).
NPDES Electronic Reporting Rule—Phase 2 Extension,” 85 Fed. Reg. 69189 (November 2, 2020).
Drinking Water: Final Action on Perchlorate,” 85 Fed. Reg. 43990 (July 21, 2020).
Clean Water Act Section 401 Certification Rule,” 85 Fed. Reg. 42210 (July 13, 2020).
The Navigable Waters Protection Rule: Definition of ‘Waters of the United States,’” 85 Fed. Reg. 22250 (April 21, 2020).
Trump Administration Announces New Lead and Copper Rule
December 22, 2020
The EPA announces the new Lead and Copper Rule emphasizing better protecting children at schools and child care facilities, getting the lead out of our nation’s drinking water, and empowering communities through information.
Improvements under the new rule include:
- Using science-based testing protocols to find more sources of lead in drinking water.
- Establishing a trigger level to jumpstart mitigation earlier and in more communities.
- Driving more and complete lead service line replacements.
- For the first time, requiring testing in schools and child care facilities.
- Requiring water systems to identify and make public the locations of lead service lines
“This new Lead and Copper Rule will protect children and families from exposure to lead in drinking water,” said former EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. “For the first time in nearly thirty years, this action incorporates best practices and strengthens every aspect of the rule, including closing loopholes, accelerating the real world pace of lead service line replacement, and ensuring that lead pipes will be replaced in their entirety.”
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