$140 Million In WI Water Infrastructure Funds: Kamala Harris

By Isiah Holmes, Wisconsin Examiner

January 25, 2022

Vice President Kamala Harris paid Wisconsin another visit Monday, this time in Milwaukee. Harris was joined by her husband, Doug Emhoff, who visited the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center while Harris focused on unveiling an infrastructure plan for the city.

Harris visited the Wisconsin Regional Training Partnership/Building Industry Group Skills Trades Employment Program (WRTP/ BIG STEP), where she spoke with workers training for lead pipe replacement funded by the bipartisan infrastructure law enacted in November. “You put the call out and it was heard,” said Harris.

Next Harris heard from Hero Plumbing about their work removing lead laterals. “It is because of the work that you all are doing… that makes us all so excited,” said Harris. “We just got a law passed and part of that law is to invest billions of dollars in lead removal.” She added that, “it’s going to be about investing in talented people like you.” Harris also heard about the health impacts of lead poisoning from Dr. Heather Paradis, a pediatrician who said she continues to see children develop symptoms from lead poisoning. “Any amount of lead in the blood is too much,” said Paradis. “Even low levels of lead in a child’s blood can have long lasting effects.”

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan, who joined the tour, highlighted the “mothers and fathers all across the country who know the pain of having a child sickened by contaminated water.” He added: “The tragedy of lead is shared by too many communities, especially Black and Latino communities. A recent study has found that Black children living at or below the poverty level in the United States of America are four times—four times—more likely to have elevated levels of lead in their blood. This is an injustice that affects our big cities, it impacts our small towns, and our communities all across rural America.” Regan stressed that, “it is a moral imperative for all of us that no child, and no family is left to drink dirty water.”

The EPA is distributing $7.4 billion in bipartisan infrastructure law funding. Wisconsin will receive more than $140 million in 2022 for water infrastructure, including over $48 million dedicated to removing lead pipes. “And there will be more of those resources to come over the next five years,” said Regan.

Also during the WRTP/BIG STEP visit, Deanna Branch, a mother who suffers chronic health issues along with her son Aiden, who was hospitalized twice, spoke with Harris and showed the vice president a picture her son drew of “the lead monster.” Branch uses the picture to raise awareness to the issue of lead contamination in Milwaukee. “Too many moms are going through the same things that I went through,” she said, “and too many boys and girls are going through what Aidan went through.”

Harris echoed Regan that addressing lead contamination is a “moral imperative.” She stressed that, “we have to finally take this issue seriously, not as a matter of concern but as a matter of action.” The infrastructure law represents “a moment where we will finally take action on an issue that has impacted our babies — the babies of a community, our collective children. An issue that has impacted seniors who are, at that stage of life, are particularly vulnerable to toxins. Which is exactly what we’re talking about when we’re talking about lead pipes. That’s what we’re talking about when we’re talking about lead paint. Those substances that can hurt people, potentially permanently.”

Harris said that, “eliminating lead exposure in our nation should be among our nation’s highest priorities. Why? Well millions of people in America are exposed to lead everyday. There are up to 10 million households in America and 400,000 schools and childcare facilities that have lead. In Wisconsin, lead service lines, it is estimated, are in at least 170,000 homes, schools, and businesses. Those are places where children and people work and live.”

Emhoff’s visit to the Youth Art’s Center was aimed at highlighting two organizations that which received Shuttered Venue Operators Grants through the American Rescue Plan: The First Stage, a theater group that Theater Group received $1.02 million, and the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra, which received $395,000, with both grants funding to fund operations during the pandemic. Several other community organizations in Milwaukee that which provide music, theater, and dance instruction to young people in southeastern Wisconsin are also housed in the center.

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