Last October, in the wake of Newark’s headline-grabbing water problems, Gov. Phil Murphy pledged to make dealing with lead contamination a high priority.
A big first step in that effort — an $80 million commitment to pay for lead service line replacements in the state — was unveiled in February, when the governor proposed a budget before the pandemic stuck.
Lead service lines, garden hose-sized pipes that connect individual properties to water mains, are at the heart of lead contamination in drinking water across the state.
Then came the coronavirus crisis, which drained state tax revenues and forced Murphy to revise his budget.
Under the new spending plan Murphy announced on Tuesday, that initiative would be reduced to $60 million. Speaking at a press briefing in Trenton on Wednesday, the governor acknowledged the cut, but said the fact that the program remains is evidence of his commitment to the issue.
“We literally took the entirety of I think $800 or $900 million of new programs that we had great passion for in the budget I presented in February, and literally took the entirety of that, of those items, and put them to the side,” Murphy said.
But there’s a problem.
Most children are exposed to lead through old paint, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And in the shadow of the lead service line announcement is a cut that halves the amount of money dedicated to the state’s Lead-Safe Home Remediation Program.
That program, which is overseen by the Department of Community Affairs, pays for low-income families to do lead abatement work in their homes. Under Murphy’s proposal, funding for the program would be cut from the $10 million it had received in previous years to $5 million over the next nine months.
Lisa Ryan, a DCA spokeswoman, said many lead remediation programs in New Jersey had been temporarily stopped by the COVID-19 crisis.
“DCA believes that the funds appropriated will allow the program over the next nine months to protect those children in low-income communities who are at risk of lead hazards now that the Lead-Safe agencies are able to operate close to normal,” Ryan said.
Ryan also noted that DCA has gotten an additional $3.6 million in federal funds for a lead paint removal, which will be spread out over three and a half years.
The lead-safe homes program dates back to late 2016, with the pilot program was launched. From November 2016 though June 2019, when the pilot program ended, 468 homes in low-income communities around New Jersey were remediated, according to Ryan.
Another 140 homes have been remediated through the program since June 2019, when the pilot program was renewed. Ryan noted that the lead-safe homes program is not permanent, and is currently scheduled to end after this year. She added that the state is developing a “Municipal Lead Abatement Program.”
In the City of Passaic, Mayor Hector Lora told NJ Advance Media he strongly disagrees with cutting funding to the Lead-Safe Home Remediation Program, which he described as very important to communities like his.
“It’s unacceptable when it comes to vulnerable communities, whether in Passaic or elsewhere in the state, to not protect families that are vulnerable to the exposure of lead,” Lora said.
More than 80% of housing stock in Passaic — a city with a 70% Hispanic population and a large immigrant community, was built before 1978 — the year that the federal government banned consumer use of lead paint, according to Lora.
Since the start of 2017, Lora said Passaic’s health division has identified 86 housing units that need lead abatement. Those units are spread across all parts of the city, and range from owner-occupied two family homes to multi-unit rental properties. Lora said it’s likely that there are far more homes in the city with lead problems that have not yet been found.
Lora said he supports Murphy, and he’s sympathetic to the economic disaster the governor is trying to deal with. But Lora stressed that he believes no situation is worth cutting funding for lead remediations, especially since children are spending more time at home than ever because of coronavirus-related restrictions.
“My children are bouncing off the walls at home without schools, and you don’t want those walls to be chipped with lead paint or other hazardous exposures,” Lora said.
Peter Chen, policy counsel for Advocates for Children of New Jersey, said he’s mostly glad that some funding has been restored to the lead-safe homes program. He noted that the program’s funding was taken away earlier this year, when Murphy pushed an emergency three-month extension to last year’s budget.
But Chen said he had hoped to see more funding for the program, not less. There is some concern, Chen said, that this cut may signal that the Murphy administration will move on from lead issues as the state deals with and recovers from the coronavirus pandemic.
Lora doesn’t think efforts to deal with lead problems in New Jersey will take a backseat going forward. He said community leaders in places with vulnerable populations, like Passaic, will make sure that state decision-makers don’t forget about the issue.
“Its wonderful to talk about lead when the cameras on on and everyones paying attention,” Lora said “But for communities like mine, lead is an issue everyday.”
Read more of NJ.com’s coverage of New Jersey water issues here.
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Michael Sol Warren may be reached at mwarren@njadvancemedia.com.