MICHAEL PHILLIS

Associated Press

FILE - Lead water pipes pulled from underneath the street are seen in Newark, N.J., Oct. 21, 2021. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

Cities must replace harmful lead pipes within 10 years under new Biden administration plan

The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday proposed the strongest overhaul of lead in drinking water rules in more than three decades. If finalized, it would force most utilities to replace lead water pipes within 10 years.

FILE - President Joe Biden speaks to members of the media before boarding Air Force One in Norfolk, Va., Nov. 19, 2023. Biden declared an emergency over lead contamination in the U.S. Virgin Islands water after tests on St. Croix revealed levels more than 100 times the limits set by the Environmental Protection Agency. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

Biden declares emergency over lead in water in US Virgin Islands

President Joe Biden declared an emergency over lead-in-water contamination in the U.S. Virgin Islands earlier this week after tests on St.

FILE - Myrtle Felton, from left, Sharon Lavigne, Gail LeBoeuf and Rita Cooper conduct a live stream video on property owned by Formosa Plastics on March 11, 2020, in St. James Parish, La. The Environmental Protection Agency spent more than a year investigating whether Louisiana's oversight of industrial air emissions discriminated against Black residents. The EPA’s investigation ended, however, before it secured commitments from the state to strengthen its oversight. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

Louisiana was open to Cancer Alley concessions. Then EPA dropped its investigation

The Environmental Protection Agency spent more than a year investigating whether Louisiana’s oversight of industrial air emissions discriminated against Black residents. That ended in June without Louisiana agreeing to change their practices.

FILE - A cut lead pipe is pulled from a dig site for testing at a home in Royal Oak, Mich., on Nov. 16, 2021. The Environmental Protection Agency will soon strengthen lead in drinking water regulations. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)

EPA to strengthen lead protections in drinking water after multiple crises, including Flint

The Environmental Protection Agency will soon strengthen lead in drinking water regulations, after decades when they essentially remained the same.

FILE - Coldwater Creek flows, April 7, 2023, in Florissant, Mo. A new report released on Tuesday, Oct. 17, by the Government Accountability Office says that future cleanup cost of 19 sites contaminated by Cold War era nuclear waste has risen $1 billion since a 2016 estimate. The sites include Coldwater Creek in suburban St. Louis, which was contaminated in the 1950s and 1960s when waste was dumped there. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File)

Cleanup cost for nuclear contamination sites has risen nearly $1 billion since 2016, report says

The estimated future cost to clean up 19 sites contaminated by nuclear waste from the Cold War era has risen by nearly $1 billion in the past seven years. That’s according to a report released Tuesday by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

Kyle Ellison stands in front of a fallen tree on Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023, in Kula, Hawaii. As high winds whipped burning trees and grass, Ellison and his landlord struggled with plummeting water pressure. Ellison had to wait for pots to slowly fill in the sink before running them to the fire; his landlord wielded a garden hose with little more than a trickle. (AP Photo/Mengshin Lin)

When Kula needed water to stop wildfire, it got a trickle. Many other US cities are also vulnerable

Hours before fires largely destroyed the historic Hawaiian town of Lahaina, residents of another part of Maui were trying to stop flames reaching their homes despite a frustrating loss of pressure in their water system.

FILE - Dredge Jadwin, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredging vessel, powers south down the Mississippi River, Oct. 19, 2022, past Commerce, Mo. Diverting Mississippi River water to states struggling with water scarcity isn't a new idea. But mayors along the river may soon be voting to support a compact that could block such a diversion. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File)

Dry states taking Mississippi River water isn’t a new idea. But some mayors want to kill it

Diverting Mississippi River water to states struggling with water scarcity isn’t a new idea. And many experts have always said it’s a long shot that isn’t practical and wouldn’t be remotely cost-effective.

Homes are under construction near wetlands, left, in Oak Island, N.C., Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023. The Biden Administration weakened protections for wetlands on Tuesday, a win for developers and agricultural groups in some states. (AP Photo/Karl B DeBlaker)

States at the forefront of fights over wetlands protections after justices slash federal rules

The Supreme Court in May sharply curtailed the Clean Water Act’s power to protect millions of acres of wetlands. After the federal court decision, the fight over wetlands protections will be fought more often at the state level.

FILE - A turtle pokes its nose out of the water in the wetlands inside Sugar Hollow Park in Bristol, Va., June 12, 2023. The Biden administration weakened regulations protecting millions of acres of wetlands Tuesday, Aug. 29, saying it had no choice after the Supreme Court sharply limited the federal government’s jurisdiction over them. (Emily Ball/Bristol Herald Courier via AP, File)

After Supreme Court curtails federal power, Biden administration weakens clean water protections

The Biden Administration weakened protections for wetlands on Tuesday. Federal officials were forced to make the change after the Supreme Court’s decision in May that sharply limited the federal government’s power to regulate wetlands.

FILE - Workmen prepare to replace older water pipes with a new copper one in Newark, N.J., Oct. 21, 2021. As the Biden administration makes billions of dollars available to remove millions of dangerous lead water pipes that can contaminate drinking water and damage brain development in children, some states are turning down funds. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

Some states reject federal money to find and replace dangerous lead pipes

Some U.S. states are turning down all or most of their initial share of federal money to find and replace lead pipes.

Beachgoers wade in the ocean at Crandon Park, Friday, July 28, 2023, in Key Biscayne, Fla. Humans naturally look to water for a chance to refresh, but when water temperatures get too high, some of the appeal is lost. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Water is refreshing in the heat, right? In parts of Florida this past week, not so much

When the ocean gets really hot, it’s less refreshing. Earlier this week, sea surface temperatures rose above 100 degrees Fahrenheit at a spot off Florida’s southern tip.

Nicholas Hartnett, owner of Pure Power Solar, carries a panel as he and Brian Hoeppner, right, install a solar array on the roof of a home in Frankfort, Ky., Monday, July 17, 2023. Since passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, it has boosted the U.S. transition to renewable energy, accelerated green domestic manufacturing, and made it more affordable for consumers to make climate-friendly purchases, such as installing solar panels on their roofs. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

One year old, US climate law is already turbocharging clean energy technology

Excessive heat continues to bear down on sections of the United States, a reminder of the impetus for the The Inflation Reduction Act, the significant climate legislation that turns one year old on August 16.

A no trespassing sign hangs on a fence around the West Lake Landfill Superfund site on Friday, April 21, 2023, in Bridgeton, Mo. Federal officials plan to remove some of the hazardous leached barium sulfate that is at the landfill and cap the rest. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Takeaways from AP’s examination of nuclear waste problems in the St. Louis region

The St. Louis region has been struggling with nuclear waste since uranium was first processed at a plant near downtown starting in the early 1940s.

Susie Gaffney poses for a photo along Coldwater Creek near where she used to live Friday, April 7, 2023, in Florissant, Mo. The creek was contaminated when nuclear waste from the Manhattan Project flowed into the waterway past homes, schools and businesses. St. Louis played an important role in the country’s effort to build the first nuclear weapon. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

How America’s push for the atomic bomb spawned enduring radioactive waste problems in St. Louis

Newly public documents are showing how America’s push for the atomic bomb helped saddle St. Louis with an enduring radioactive waste problem. St. Louis was part of a geographically scattered national effort to build the first nuclear bomb.

George Philbin, of Boyle & Fogarty Construction, works to feed a new copper residential water supply line, after removing a old lead residential water supply line, in the basement of a home where service was getting upgraded, Thursday, June 29, 2023, in Providence, R.I. (Health and environmental groups have been fighting for lead-free water to drink in Providence for at least a decade. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Takeaways from AP’s investigation into cities leaving lead pipe in the ground

When cities and utilities excavate water mains to work on them, they often uncover lead water pipe as well. But instead of digging it up once and for all, many have removed only sections and left the rest.

Blackhawk Sewer & Water contractor Khaild Waarith holds a lead pipe that was extracted in Chicago on April 10, 2023. Lead pipes that carry drinking water are a major source of exposure to the metal and the damage is usually permanent. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune via AP)

Here’s why there is still so much lead pipe in Chicago

While Detroit, a city that went through bankruptcy, made the decision to remove all of its lead water pipes to prevent lead poisoning, the city of Chicago opted to leave many lead pipes in the ground.

Richie Nero, of Boyle & Fogarty Construction, shows the the cross section of an original lead, residential water service line, at left, and the replacement copper line, at right, outside a home where service was getting upgraded, Thursday, June 29, 2023, in Providence, R.I. Health and environmental groups have been fighting for lead-free water to drink in Providence for at least a decade. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Some cities are digging up water mains and leaving lead pipe in the ground

Many American cities have been excavating water mains, revealing lead pipes and leaving them there. The work’s disruption of the pipe can also spike lead levels, an investigation by The Associated Press has found.

FILE - Myrtle Felton, from left, Sharon Lavigne, Gail LeBoeuf and Rita Cooper, members of RISE St. James, conduct a live stream video on property owned by Formosa on March 11, 2020, in St. James Parish, La. The Biden administration has dropped an investigation into whether Louisiana officials put Black residents living in an industrial stretch of the state at increased cancer risk, despite finding initial evidence of racial discrimination, according to a federal court filing Tuesday, June 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

EPA retreats on Louisiana investigations that alleged Black people lived amid higher cancer risk

The Biden administration has dropped investigations into whether Louisiana officials put Black residents living in an industrial stretch of the state at increased cancer risk.

FILE - Phillip Yazzie waits for a water drum in the back of his pickup truck to be filled in Teesto, Ariz., on the Navajo Nation, on Feb. 11, 2021. The Supreme Court has ruled against the Navajo Nation in a dispute involving water from the drought-stricken Colorado River. States that draw water from the river — Arizona, Nevada and Colorado — and water districts in California had urged the court to decide for them, and that's what the justices did in a 5-4 ruling. (AP Photo/Felicia Fonseca, File)

Supreme Court ruling complicates Navajo Nation’s fight for more water

A Supreme Court ruling this week will make it harder for the Navajo Nation to get water from the Colorado River. No one disputes that century-old treaties give them a right to water flowing through their reservation.