6 February 2024
TOPEKA (KSNT) – Attorney General Kris Kobach is calling a piece of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulation “another example of unnecessary overreach by the Biden administration.”
Kobach is leading a coalition of state attorneys general from 14 other states in opposition to the “National Primary Water Regulations for Lead and Copper” plan to replace more than 9 million lead pipes in the USA. According to Kobach’s office, the proposed rule would cost individuals thousands of dollars.
“Americans are already burdened by rising energy and utility costs and crushing inflation, and this proposal just adds insult to injury,” Kobach said. “The EPA should abandon it.”
Kobach alleges that the regulations would force homeowners to pay to replace their own lines if they contain lead and connect to a city line.
“This proposed rule creates a heavy-handed mandate on states that is nigh impossible to comply with and is also a financial burden on already squeezed middle class families,” the joint letter reads. “It is unworkable, underfunded, and unnecessary and should be withdrawn.”
According to the letter from Kobach, the attorneys general estimate the removal and replacement of pipes would cost more than $60 billion. So far, Congress has set aside $15 billion for the project. The average cost per line for repairs would be between $1,200 and $12,300.
“It sets an almost impossible timeline, will cost billions and will infringe on the rights of the States and their residents – all for benefits that may be entirely speculative,” the joint letter reads.
The states joining Kobach’s coalition include Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.
“Moving from 15 parts per billion to 10 parts per billion is a very significant public health improvement. It is going to compel a significant number of water systems to be taking interim measures like corrosion control,” Radhika Fox, the EPA’s top water official, told reporters in Nov. 2023.
Compliance is expected to cost public water systems between $2.1 billion and $3.6 billion annually.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law signed by President Biden provides $15 billion to replace lead service lines. However, some outside estimates say the cost of actually doing so would be significantly more than that.
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