President Biden Wants to Replace All Lead Pipes. Flint Has Lessons to Share

[SummerMadness]

President Biden Wants to Replace All Lead Pipes. Flint Has Lessons to Share

Flint's lead crisis began in 2014 when the city's drinking water source was switched to save money. Water from the new source was not properly treated, damaging old pipes that leached lead into the drinking water.

Lead can cause damage to the brain and kidneys. Of particular concern is the effect lead can have on young children. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says lead exposure may slow development in kids under 7 years old, leading to learning and behavioral problems.

President Biden has proposed a jobs and infrastructure plan of more than $2 trillion that would set aside billions to replace the nation's lead water pipes. When he announced his American Jobs Plan in April, the president pointed to Flint's troubles as a cautionary tale about the dangers of letting infrastructure decay.

 

[iluvatar5150]

Why aren't the pro-family / pro-child / pro-lifers all over this? They should've been championing this for decades.

 

[Fantine]

Physical infrastructure is so much more than roads and bridges. Rails, public transport, airports, pipes, the electrical grid. Broadband.

A stitch in time...

 

[hislegacy]

Biden is quickly showing himself to be a puppet of the far left.

Taking his direction from the authors of the green new deal.

 

[Desk trauma]

Biden is quickly showing himself to be a puppet of the far left.

Taking his direction from the authors of the green new deal.

TIL that modern plumbing is a product of the far left.

 

[Desk trauma]

Why aren't the pro-family / pro-child / pro-lifers all over this? They should've been championing this for decades.

No opportunity for histrionics about murder or shaming harlots.

 

[Albion]

• The bill, which is being sold to the public as spending on "infrastructure," also will provide for the following--

expanding broadband access;

electric vehicles;

child care;

creation of a new office at the Department of Commerce to "dedicated to monitoring domestic industrial capacity and funding investments to support production of critical goods;"

preparation for future pandemics;

bringing together industry, academia, and government to advance technologies and capabilities;

home care for elderly and disabled;

climate change R&D;

"research infrastructure" at the National Science Foundation;

home sustainability and public housing.
...............................................................................................................

Some of these items may deserve attention, but the proposed legislation is undeniably intended to fool the public about where the money goes. There is no excuse for that.

In addition, the Congressional opponents of this kind of a "partisan wish list" have made it known that they are more than willing to support a real infrastructure bill and have backed that up with specific proposals.

 

[Fantine]

Biden is quickly showing himself to be a puppet of the far left.

Taking his direction from the authors of the green new deal.

Running water is a function of government, even for libertarians.

 

[Desk trauma]

Running water is a function of government, even for libertarians.

Some libertarians.

 

[Albion]

No opportunity for histrionics about murder or shaming harlots.

That's a cheap shot. No special interest association can be solving every one of the world's problems simultaneously.

You are speaking of people who want to reign in legal abortion and infanticide that take away tens of millions of lives annually, most of them simply for the sake of someone else's convenience. That's an uphill battle, I think we can all agree. As a result, it's not reasonable to charge them with not working on all sorts of other projects at the same time.

The Red Cross is not vilified for failing to make a serious effort to end illiteracy; the NAACP does not really work hard to promote airline safety; and the Veterans Organizations do not spend their time and money on ending childhood polio in the third world. Are all of these therefore, phony or lazy? No.

 

[hislegacy]

Running water is a function of government, even for libertarians.

Yes, that is going to be the rallying cry - it doesn't negate Joe's capitulation to the green new deal and the far left. He has completely abandoned any resemblance of a moderate approach to anything - Next will be retooling buildings to be greener, new windows and moving away from fossil fuels - it is all in the green new deal.

 

[Fantine]

I support the green new deal. I fear that right now lead pipes are looked at as a problem for poor children in aging buildings in inner cities, easy to put on the back burner because we in the suburbs are safe.

Blue cities in blue states. But that's not America. With forest fires or hurricanes or poisoned water, our country must respond to disasters within our borders (although obviously terrible precedents were set 2016-20.)

 

[DaisyDay]

Yes, that is going to be the rallying cry - it doesn't negate Joe's capitulation to the green new deal and the far left. He has completely abandoned any resemblance of a moderate approach to anything - Next will be retooling buildings to be greener, new windows and moving away from fossil fuels - it is all in the green new deal.

What does the Green New Deal have to do with lead pipes? I don't see the connection.

 

[SummerMadness]

What does the Green New Deal have to do with lead pipes? I don't see the connection.

It does not, lead pipes are about infrastructure and public health.

 

[RocksInMyHead]

• The bill, which is being sold to the public as spending on "infrastructure," also will provide for the following--

expanding broadband access;

Infrastructure.

electric vehicles;

Charging stations for electric vehicles are infrastructure.

child care;

Making it easier for people to work aids infrastructure.

creation of a new office at the Department of Commerce to "dedicated to monitoring domestic industrial capacity and funding investments to support production of critical goods;"

So, an organization overseeing infrastructure?

preparation for future pandemics;

Medical infrastructure.

bringing together industry, academia, and government to advance technologies and capabilities;

Advancement of infrastructure.

home care for elderly and disabled;

Making it easier for people to work aids infrastructure.

climate change R&D;

We need to update our infrastructure to account for the effects climate change as well as to reduce its future impact.

"research infrastructure" at the National Science Foundation;

Yep, infrastructure.

home sustainability and public housing.

Also...infrastructure!

I see you complaining about how the bill is full of stuff that isn't infrastructure, but this list looks a heck of a lot like infrastructure to me.

 

[chilehed]

... the president pointed to Flint's troubles as a cautionary tale about the dangers of letting infrastructure decay.

Rather, the dangers of falsifying records on which structures had lead pipes and which did not, gaming the water sampling methods to minimize measured lead levels, and neglecting to properly monitor pH at the plant as required by law.

All of which were done by the City of Flint.

 

[hislegacy]

It does not, lead pipes are about infrastructure and public health.

Not until this year when the meaning of infrastructure changed as a catch all for left wish lists.

plumbing and building issues are local and state codes and have NEVER been federally regulated.

 

[wing2000]

Biden is quickly showing himself to be a puppet of the far left.

Taking his direction from the authors of the green new deal.

Yea, clean water is so extreme.

 

[Fantine]

Not until this year when the meaning of infrastructure changed as a catch all for left wish lists.

plumbing and building issues are local and state codes and have NEVER been federally regulated.

These are the pipes leading from the reservoirs, not building pipes. Republican Governor Snyder ignored the problem.

Perhaps the plan is to give cities the funding to fix the pipes.

Children's brain cells are dying while you quibble about it not being a federal problem.

Are you ok with passing the buck while children's brain cells are dying?

Please tell me you are not.

Lead pipes were used 100 years ago, but many of the chemical waste dumping that damages bodies and minds are the result of ongoing deregulation.

Every time you pass the buck the bucks needed to fix it multiply.

Need i mention that Flint is another reason why "Black Lives Matter" need to continue their advocacy?

 

[Albion]

I see you complaining about how the bill is full of stuff that isn't infrastructure,...

I'm sure you do, but the message was that this administration has proposed a number of bills that mislead the public by the name chosen for the legislation and then the advocates promote these bills to the American public by talking as though the misleading names were indeed exactly what the bill was all about.

This particular piece of legislation is a good example of that technique.

And now you also know why the opponents in Congress have opposed this "infrastructure" legislation while, at the same time, they are quite in favor of financing those projects in the bill that the advocates have told the public are what the legislation will accomplish (fixing the roads, rails, bridges, building better ones, and so on)!