Remarks for the Lead Service Line Replacement Event, As Prepared for Delivery
Michael Regan
Wilmington, NC
Good afternoon everyone.
Before we get started with today’s scheduled message, I’d like to acknowledge the horrific shooting that happened in Charlotte on Monday.
My thoughts and prayers are with the families of the fallen officers, the injured, and the entire Charlotte community...
May we honor their memory and continue to fight for a world that is safer and healthier for all.
It’s great to be back home in North Carolina.
Just a few weeks ago, I was a few miles up the road in Fayetteville announcing a historic national drinking water standard for PFAS ... thanks in large part to the clean water advocates across NC who’ve been fighting for cleaner water for decades.
I’d like to thank President Biden for inviting me to be here with him today, and thank him for his leadership!
You know, President Biden is keeping his promises...and fighting every single day for a cleaner, safer, and healthier America.
To my friend Governor Cooper, I’m grateful for our partnership...thank you for your unwavering commitment to the people of this great state and to the nation.
And to Mayor Saffo, thank you for leading this great city and staring down the water quality challenges we have faced.
I join you all today as Administrator of the Environmental Protection agency, but my highest title is Dad.
And like any parent, my number one priority is the health and safety of my child.
I’ve been on the road a lot over the past few years. I’ve traveled from big cities to small rural towns all across this country...and I’ve spoken to too many mothers and fathers who know the pain of having a child sickened by lead contaminated water.
Yet, millions of families...hundreds of thousands of schools...and countless daycare centers still rely on water that is pumped through dangerous lead pipes.
Let me be clear...there is no safe level of lead in our drinking water. Period.
No parent should have to carry the weight of that worry...
and no person should fear their tap water will poison them.
Ensuring that EVERYONE has access to clean water is a basic human right...and a moral imperative.
We owe it to our children. We owe it to their future.
President Biden came into office with a plan to get the lead OUT...directing the full force of the federal family to address the threat of lead in our pipes.
EPA is committed to using every tool available to eliminate this injustice— from exercising our congressionally mandated authority to regulate this toxin...to leveraging our enforcement capabilities...to providing technical assistance for underserved communities.
We are ensuring that folks who’ve been shut out for far too long finally have the resources they need to do everything from identifying projects, to applying for funding, to managing construction...
And...implementing an unprecedented $15 billion dollars to remove lead pipes through President Biden’s historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Law...
Together, these actions will achieve President Biden’s vision of removing all lead pipes across the country.
The President is right when he says, ‘It's never, ever been a good bet to bet against America.’
We can, and we will, create a future that is healthier, more resilient, and more prosperous for everyone...
A future where every child—regardless of the color of their skin or the community they live in—can live free from the toxic threat of lead...
Thank you.