Politics and Current
Cory Booker: EPA has ‘obligation’ to help pay for bottled water during crisis leading to Newark
CHARLESTON, SC – AUGUST 7: Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) speaks to a crowd on gun violence and white nationalism at Emanuel AME Church on August 7, 2019 in Charleston, South Carolina. Booker’s event, held at the location where nine black parishioners were murdered by white supremacists in 2015, is a response to last week’s racially motivated mass shooting in El Paso, Texas. (Photo: Sean Rayford/Getty Images)
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Cory Booker (R-NJ) is looking on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to offer “immediate assistance” to Newark, New Jersey, as town struggles to distribute bottled water amid a growing lead crisis. .
In a letter Friday, the EPA really helpful that city officials begin distributing bottled water after a recent study found that two out of three homes with old lead pipes still had high levels of lead despite the usage of filters.
Booker, a former mayor of Newark, argues that the EPA, which previously determined that filters made water secure to drink, bears some responsibility for the crisis and may respond.
“We urge EPA to find additional resources to help provide bottled water to Newark residents to ensure a consistent source of clean drinking water while further sampling is collected,” Booker, U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez and Reps. Albio Sires and Donald Payne Jr. said.
In 2016 Newark Public Schools closed water fountains in 30 schools after detecting elevated lead levels. In addition to Flint, Michigan, poisoned water also posed a threat Selma, Alabama.and Jackson, Mississippi.