President Joe Biden’s infrastructure czar, Mitch Landrieu, stopped in Milwaukee to tout the benefits of the federal $1.2 trillion infrastructure plan for the city.
Landrieu’s visit came as city officials hoped to use funds from the infrastructure plan to significantly speed up lateral lead replacement to ensure safe drinking water and help combat Milwaukee’s longstanding problem of lead poisoning in children.
“Across America, this work is actually being done,” Landrieu said at a news conference Wednesday at a lead pipe replacement job site south of the city.
The sweeping plan Biden signed into law in November is the country’s largest infrastructure investment in decades. It aims to address almost every aspect of America’s infrastructure, including water, public transportation, roads, bridges, ports, railroads, electricity, and broadband internet.
“We will talk about improving roads and bridges. We will talk about high speed internet. We’re going to talk about jobs,” Landrieu told the Journal Sentinel ahead of his visit. “We will essentially be talking about lead pipes because all children have the right to drink clean drinking water.”
Landrieu, the White House infrastructure coordinator, joined Mayor Cavalier Johnson, US Rep. Gwen Moore and others on Wednesday afternoon.
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Johnson said the Infrastructure Act offers “generational opportunities” for the city and state.
“The bipartisan infrastructure bill created, for the first time, a dedicated funding source for line service replacement and is a much-needed boost to Milwaukee’s program,” he said, adding it would create family-supporting union jobs in the city.
And he pointed to the various sources of lead poisoning, including paint in older homes, soil and lead supply lines.
A Johnson spokesman said the federal infrastructure law will allow the city to “significantly expedite” lead pipe replacements, but gave no figures to the Journal Sentinel.
Nearly 70,000 lead lines remain in the city, and it is estimated that replacing all of Milwaukee’s lead lines, on both public and private property, will cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
Lead poisoning can have lifelong consequences, especially for young children, and there is no safe level of exposure. Sources include paint chips and pipelines carrying potable water.
The city expects to figure out this fall how to access some of the roughly $48 million Wisconsin has been allocated for 2022 mainline replacements.
The state is expected to receive additional funding for line service replacement in the coming years.
The White House says the infrastructure bill will include the following investments for Wisconsin:
- Funded $5.2 billion for highway repairs and $225 million for bridge replacement and repairs.
- Provided more than $590 million for public transit and $79 million to expand Wisconsin’s EV charging network.
- Providing high-speed Internet to approximately 318,000 Wisconsinites who currently have no access.
- Spend $841 million to eliminate lead plumbing in Wisconsin and provide clean drinking water in the state.
Contact Mary Spicuzza at (414) 224-2324 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @MSpicuzzaMJS.
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