This story was updated at 10:05 a.m. EDT.
Democrats are calling on the Biden administration to swiftly finalize a sweeping rule to remove lead from drinking water in order to ensure that a separate Trump-era policy does not go into effect next month.
In a letter set to go out Wednesday, over 60 Democrats will urge the White House Office of Management and Budget to release EPA’s Lead and Copper Rule Improvements before Oct. 16. That is the date when water utilities would be required to comply with the Trump administration’s Lead and Copper Rule Revisions, which the lawmakers called “deeply problematic.”
Finalized in 2020, the Trump-era rule is needlessly bureaucratic and would ultimately delay efforts to replace lead pipes that leach toxic heavy metals into drinking water, the lawmakers wrote.
