Drinking lead can damage people’s brains, but Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach opposes a plan to remove lead water pipes.
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In their letter, the attorneys general wrote, “[The plan] sets an almost impossible timeline, will cost billions and will infringe on the rights of the States and their residents – all for benefits that may be entirely speculative.”
Kobach repeated this nearly verbatim in a March 7 post on X (formerly Twitter).
Buttigieg responded by writing, “The benefit of not being lead poisoned is not speculative. It is enormous. And because lead poisoning leads to irreversible cognitive harm, massive economic loss, and even higher crime rates, this work represents one of the best returns on public investment ever observed.”
To be fair, it’s harder to understand the negative consequences of lead poisoning if you suffer from lead poisoning.
LMAO
“But if my constituents stop drinking lead, they will become woke and will stop believing the bullshit I’m pouring down their throats”
Not even that is true. The damage doesn’t revert on its own.
It’s true for the next generation.
So, Kobach et al’s complaint is that the plan to replace lead pipes is underfunded and so probably won’t cause enough of an impact on lead levels in drinking water to even bother, and yet the reason it’s underfunded is because Republicans specifically voted to not fund it properly. So instead of funding it 100% (or close to 100%), they chose to only fund about 1/3rd of what it would cost to replace all of the lead pipes.
It almost seems like Republicans want potential voters to imbibe neurotoxins that will negatively impact their IQ, harm their ability to concentrate, and make them more easily swayed by emotional appeals. I wonder why that could be?
Since they were only given 1/3 of the budget, they should announce that they’ll only be removing lead from low income districts (which the Republicans have red-lined into being largely black neighborhoods). See if fomo changes their minds.
It won’t change their minds, because they already think it’s not their problem. Their water doesn’t have lead, they presume.
It almost seems like Republicans want potential voters to imbibe neurotoxins that will negatively impact their IQ, harm their ability to concentrate, and make them more easily swayed by emotional appeals. I wonder why that could be?
This is my tin foil hat explanation. Also poor areas with more black and ethnic minority people are more likely to have lead pipes and it leads to increased crime and violence, thus further stoking racial tensions and increasing support for racist policy and therefore republicans
One of the problems with lead poisoning is you end up too stupid to know what lead poisoning is
Which is the way the GOP likes it. Dumb people don’t question their authoritarian rule.
True, but I’m talking about Kobach
So are they.
I love how they say it could cost 47 billion dollars and this was only for 15 billion so they fight to say replacing the pipes is highly underfunded. The request was for 45 billion and his party demanded lower amounts and only allotted 15 then went on to call it underfunded now to try to get it canceled.
They say it could take years to get inner city places like Chicago all taken care of… So let me guess, their plan is to wait longer and hurt us more, doesn’t that usually mean you would start immediately?
He makes a logical argument with sound reasoning, logical conclusions and a definitive solution. The facts are clear and there is no ambiguity.
No wonder they dont understand, because its not the immigrants, trans- or black-people at fault here.
Fitting how the average republican consistently behaves exactly like a person suffering from lead-poisoning…
Maybe he should have said that Lead is black, and illegally coming to our country and stealing our jobs.
Should have led with “lead is woke” and they’d be tripping over themselves to ban it
My conspiracy theory is on some level, conservatives are aware that their worldview is at least in part a symptom of lead poisoning induced brain damage, so they rely on lead poisoning for votes.
Those people coming to read you water meter, nope, that’s just a cover! They’re actually putting lead pellets into a secret chamber to contaminate your water so all the tests upstream of you show its safe!
Considering all the conspiracy theories involving fluoride in the water supply, you’d think they’d catch on to the actually dangerous lead in the water supply and come up with conspiracies involving that instead.
I don’t think it’s exactly a conspiracy, but I have little doubt that a whole lot of Republican politicians are thinking exactly that.
The Brookings Institution, a social policy think tank, noted that the actual cost of replacing all of the nation’s lead pipes is closer to $47 billion. The Biden administration originally requested $45 billion for the project, but congressional Republicans negotiated the amount down to $15 billion. The institute also noted that replacing pipes in crowded urban cities like Chicago could take 40 to 50 years.
So it is underfunded, because Republicans didn’t want to fully fund the effort.
Also, when they talk about “homeowners” replacing their lead pipes, what they really mean is “landlords.” Homeowners have an interest in replacing lead pipes because there will be an ROI when they sell, and also the improved quality of life (not spending money on lead filters or bottled water, no cognitive impairment, etc).
The losers in this situation are the corportate slumlords for whom it will cost more to replace water pipes, and who will not see most of the benefit. They’ll have a hard time justifying raising the rent by saying “now the water is no longer toxic.”
Do you not understand that actual homeowners could get royally fucked? I can’t imagine how I would even begin to pay for replacing my home’s pipes.
No, explain to me how a law that does not mandate homeowners do anything at all can royally fuck those homeowners?
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Sounds like a great project to get started on now.
Cue the lead truthers.
Having a nice buildup of lead in your body actually blocks the 5G signals that your COVID vaccine nanobots would otherwise be receiving from the government, actually!
I mean… isn’t that technically kinda the truth a tiny bit??? Or is that just X-rays?
Nope, the lead is well past everything you’re worried about and too thinly distributed.
Just like those lead bags you put film in at the airport
Even Superman can’t see through lead. Which means we should all be ingesting as much lead as possible to stop the guvmnt from tracking us.
Lead paint was banned in the U.S. in 1978 because of its toxicity. This stuff can and will kill you.
Conservatives need to stop treating every deadly poison like a “who can chug the most beer contest.” This isn’t a game (unless you’re a company seeking to bypass lead restrictions, in which case it’s totally a game to YOU).
Here’s something wild: it was only banned for residential use. As long as the paint is labeled ‘for industrial use only’, manufacturers can go crazy with the lead. Despite the common misconception of lead exposure via paint being primarily due to “eating paint chips”, it’s mostly due to the inhalation and ingestion of the dust formed by friction and the gradual breakdown of lead paint. To get to the point, living downwind of any business that still utilizes legal lead paint means you may be exposed to lead.
To get to the point, living downwind of any business that still utilizes legal lead paint means you may be exposed to lead.
I wonder if there’s any way to find out if you live near one of these businesses?
There’s an easy, not very legal way. Head to the Home Depot and buy some lead test strips, then take them and a pocketknife for some DIY paint sampling at the facility in question.
If the police find you, make sure you’re white and aren’t near any oak trees.
I wonder if there’s any way to find out if you live near one of these businesses?
There’s an easy, not very legal way. Head to the Home Depot and buy some lead test strips, then take them and a pocketknife for some DIY paint sampling at the facility in question.
Well I was thinking more along some kind of governmental website with a search ability, but sure I guess that would work too.
Well I was thinking more along some kind of governmental website with a search ability
I wish! There’s no registration required for industrial use, so there’s no registry to search.
Do you live in a city that has buildings more than 50 years old? Is so, the answer is yes.
Ingesting lead can and will kill you, and it will impair your cognitive functioning in the meantime. Lead was banned from automobile gasoline in 1975, but it was too late. There are small amounts of lead in the air and water, almost everywhere, that will remain for centuries and that were not there before cars,
Reminds me of a movie scene where they trick some capitalist into thinking he drank water that he was responsible for contaminating but swore it was safe.
Need to get this fool to believe he’s affected by the lead. Not a far leap for the way he is talking.
Rhymes with “I love the poorly educated”
“I love victims of lead poisoning”
How is this real. Yikes.
First time?
There was a republican senator who once brought a snowball into Congress to prove climate change is a hoax.
There was once a republican congressman who claimed a woman’s body would self abort the fetus if it was a rape.
I don’t remember their names, nor do I care to.
There was also a congressman that asked an admiral if he was worried that the island would tip over if they put a navy base on it.
You know because that happens sometimes.
Conservatives are simultanously cartoonishly evil and cartoonishly dumb as fuck.
Sadly that one’s a Democrat.
Neoliberals are conservatives. Unfortunately, we don’t have a progressive party in the U.S. We have a conservative party and a more conservative party.
I just googled it again. Apparently it was Democrat rep from Georgia. Hank Johnson.
I’m glad we have these bastions of intellect and wisdom passing laws for the rest of us.
Roy Atkins was the rape senator. Happened my senior of highschool, and he was running to be our senator.
Todd Akin. He also died of cancer a few years ago, so that’s one nice thing cancer has done.
If it was legitimate cancer his body would have shut it down.
Don’t forget about Congressman Hank Johnson who was concerned about Marines being stationed in Guam because of his fear that “the whole island will become so overly populated that it will tip over and capsize.”
To be fair to those weirdos - I think only the second one made international news - at least those were adjacent to contentious issues.
There’s normally nothing contentious about lead poisoning being a bad thing.
It really feels like the West is on the brink of another Dark Age.
Kansas (and even worse Arkansas), Alabama, Missouri, et al, are real in this timeline. It’s not good.
I think this (well, Community) gives people hope that there are better versions in different timelines. Dash those hopes, there is only one reality, this is where they are. No rolling dice out of this one.
I will trust my shiny math rocks over the words of some alleged human online, thankyouverymuch. These polyhedral gems truly love me, and will always see me through. my precious
Human? I’m just a lead induced hallucination. In reality you’ve been chewing on your gems, which coincidentally are made of lead, and talking to the wall.
If you were just some hallucination, we’d be friends. Everyone else I’m my head says so.
As an actual water service professional, I kind of get it. If you control pH and add corrosion inhibitors like orthophosphate, lead pipe are not a problem. Flint fiscal managers decided to skip this to save money.
Unfortunately the plan is a largely unfounded mandate ($15B won’t even cover 10% of lead lines) with a timeline that will further jack up the price due to everyone competing for materials and contractors.
The vast majority of lead poisoning comes from old paint, not lead water pipes (and leaded gasoline before that … or now if you live downwind from a general aviation airport as piston aircraft STILL use leaded gas. Yet we won’t ban that ‘cause rich people own those planes).
Not that it isn’t good to remove lead. It’s just the aggressive timeline. It would be smarter to have a longer timeline where it is paired with replacing the main as well, as it is a smaller marginal cost to do both at the same time. The corrosion control can buy us plenty of time. I personally have a lead connection and a state licensed lab detected zero lead in my water.
But to phrase it as a state’s rights issue and claim the benefits are speculative is stupid.
To be fair, it’s poisonous to anyone.
After removing lead from gasoline, crime statistics declined years later. This happened in multiple countries
The KS AG has a point; if it’s expected to cost $47B, but the actual funding amount is $15B (…which is the fault of Republicans), then the plan may not have a significant effect for the families that are most at-risk, e.g., poor families in old, poorly maintained homes. The obvious solution is to increase the appropriation.
I am tired of inaction due to foreseen infeasiblity. Capitalism fucking blows. We should do what we can when we can for who we can.
Rounding error of military budget is too much to care for the population.
It may be, but nonetheless it is presently a mandate that is vastly underfunded. Water utilities don’t get to just shake the Pentagon’s couch cushions for spare change.
As a water professional working for a utility, it will cost way more than that.
