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FACT SHEET: Biden-⁠Harris Administration

EXPOSURE []

October 24, 2024

Today’s announcement is expected to reduce the lead exposure of up to 1.2 million people every year

and represents one of over 100 actions taken by the Administration in 2024 to reduce lead poisoning

President Biden and Vice President Harris have been clear that all Americans deserve to live free from

fear of toxic lead exposure. Since Day One, the Biden-Harris Administration has marshalled a whole

of government effort to reduce all sources of lead exposure, issuing a comprehensive Lead Pipe and

Paint Action Plan that guides federal action to achieve a lead-free future.

Today, as we continue to mark National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week, the Biden-Harris

Administration is taking action to further reduce lead exposure by issuing a final Environmental

Today’s final rule sets new standards for lead abatement activities that will better protect children and

communities from the harmful effects of exposure to dust generated from lead paint. The rule will help

protect people in communities across the country from these harms, and is expected to reduce the lead

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exposures of up to nearly 1.2 million people every year, providing public health and economic benefits

up to 30 times greater than the costs. Although the United States banned lead-based paint in residences

in 1978, an estimated 31 million houses built before 1978 still contain lead-based paint, and 3.8 million

are home to one or more child under the age of six, putting them at risk of lead exposure.

Since the announcement of the Biden-Harris Lead Pipe and Paint Action Plan, the Administration has

taken hundreds of actions across more than 10 agencies to reduce the risk of lead poisoning in drinking

water, paint, soil, food and household products, the workplace, and to combat lead exposure

• Earlier this month, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced more

than $420 million in awards to remove lead hazards from homes, including HUD-assisted

homes, ensuring the safety of children, residents, and families. This includes $2 million to

remove other housing-related hazards from homes in conjunction with weatherization efforts,

and nearly $10 million to facilitate research on better identifying and controlling lead and other

housing-related hazards. These awards are part of President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative, which

seeks to ensure that 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain Federal climate, clean energy,

affordable and sustainable housing, and other investments flow to disadvantaged communities

that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution.

• In August 2024, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a new final rule

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• In 2024, EPA conducted approximately 1,400 compliance monitoring activities for lead-based

paint in over 190 communities, more than a third of which were communities with

environmental justice concerns. Additionally, EPA’s Federal Facilities Enforcement Office

conducted compliance monitoring activities at 18 military installations in 2024. This work

through a lead pipe. The Biden-Harris Administration has taken historic steps to meet President

Biden’s commitment to replace every lead pipe in the country within a decade:

• Earlier this month President Biden traveled to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to announce a final

rule that requires drinking water systems nationwide to replace lead service lines within 10 years.

This rule will protect children from brain damage, prevent up to 900,000 infants being born with

low birth weight, and protect 1,100 adults from premature death from heart disease every year.

• President Biden secured a historic $15 billion in funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure

Law specifically dedicated for replacing lead service lines, and provided an additional $2.6

billion from his Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for drinking water upgrades and lead pipe

replacements, along with an additional $11.7 billion in general-purpose funding through the

like Milwaukee, Detroit, Pittsburgh, St. Paul, and Denver, have received funding from the

Administration and are now on track to replace all lead pipes within 10 years or less. Under this

Administration, over 367,000 lead pipes have been replaced nationwide, benefitting nearly 1

million people.

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• Funding from the American Rescue Plan’s $350 billion State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund

can be used by states and communities to replace lead service lines and remediate lead paint. To

date, well over $20 billion nationwide has been invested in water infrastructure projects.

• During this Administration, the EPA has also used its Water Infrastructure Finance and

Innovation Act (WIFIA) program to provide well over $350 million in financing to communities

for lead pipe replacement.

• Since launching in November 2023, EPA’s Get the Lead Out Initiative has provided technical

assistance to public water systems nationwide to identify lead pipes and accelerate their

replacement. Prioritizing disadvantaged and underserved communities, the initiative is providing

replace lead pipes, and remediate lead paint to protect children and communities across America,

including the Biden-Harris Get the Lead Out Partnership comprised of state and local officials,

water utilities, labor unions, and other nongovernmental organizations who committed to

advance and accelerate lead pipe replacement. This White House Partnership spurred the

creation of a the Great Lakes Lead Pipes Partnership, a first-of-its kind, mayor-led effort to

accelerate lead pipe replacement in cities with the heaviest lead burdens.

• In August 2024, EPA announced $26 million in grant funding to protect children from lead in

drinking water at schools and childcare facilities across the country. These grants will be used by

55 States and territories to reduce lead exposure where children learn and play.

• The Department of the Interior conducted more than 330 water system assessments at all Indian

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remediation strategies and implemented actions including alternative water sourcing and

confirmatory sampling.

• In January 2024, EPA released the Integrated Science Assessment for Lead as part of its review

of the lead National Ambient Air Quality Standards. This technical document, along with

additional technical and policy assessments, will provide the scientific foundation for EPA’s

decisions as it regulates air lead exposure.

• In October 2023, EPA issued a final determination that emissions of lead from aircraft engines

that operate on leaded fuel cause or contribute to air pollution which may reasonably be

anticipated to endanger public health and welfare. With this final determination, EPA and

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) have begun work to consider regulatory options to

address lead emissions from aircrafts.

Reducing Exposure to Lead from Soil – Lead contamination at legacy pollution sites from past

industrial operations, like lead mining and smelting, can accumulate in soil and poses a threat to human

Brownfields grant recipients completed 63 brownfields cleanups that addressed lead

contamination.

• In January 2024, after years of research and advanced understanding of the latest science on lead,

EPA issued new guidance to improve screenings for lead in residential soils at Superfund and

other contaminated sites. This new guidance cuts in half the recommended screening levels

issued 30 years ago and takes into account the potential for cumulative impacts by

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recommending even more stringent levels in areas where there may be additional sources of lead

exposure, such as lead in drinking water or lead paint in homes.

• In September 2024, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published a new study on dietary

exposure from lead in infants and young children. This action is part of the agency’s Closer to

Zero effort, which sets forth the FDA’s science-based approach to continually reduce exposure

to lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury and other contaminants to the lowest levels possible in foods

eaten by babies and young children.

Protecting People from Lead Exposure in the Workplace – Workers can be exposed to lead as a result

of the production, use, maintenance, recycling, and disposal of lead material and products. In 2024, the

Administration sought to protect workers through a number of actions.

• In April 2024, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)

actions and care.

• In March 2024, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced Phase 2 of

the Lead Detect Prize on challenge.gov, inviting selected Phase 1 participants to develop their

winning concepts into detailed designs. This challenge provides a $1 million prize pool to

accelerate the development of next-generation point-of-care blood lead testing technology.

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