SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH – Attorney General Sean D. Reyes joined a comment letter to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over its proposed rule, “National Primary Drinking Water Regulations for Lead and Copper.” The letter, which was led by the State of Kansas, urges the federal agency to withdraw the rule.
On December 6, 2023, the EPA released the proposed rule. According to the attorneys general, the rule “requires not just States and public water systems, but every homeowner to replace every lead pipe line in the country within the next ten years.”
In their letter, the coalition of attorneys general argue that the proposed rule “implicates the Major Questions Doctrine, invokes the outer limits of the Commerce Clause, [and] is arbitrary, capricious, unworkable, underfunded, and unnecessary.”
The States write, “The EPA also expects this rule will lead to increased water prices for all American families, in some cases by hundreds of dollars per year. Under President Biden, Americans are already burdened by high energy and utility prices, which are increasing at rates that outstrip even the crushing inflation witnessed in other household expenses over the last few years. And at least partly due to the inflation that this administration failed to control, most – over 60% – do not have savings set aside for emergencies, let alone to pay for unnecessary pipe replacements.”
Joining Utah and Kansas as signatories on the letter were the States of Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming.
