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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will host virtual public comment sessions on its “Strategy to Reduce Lead exposures and Disparities in U.S. Communities” for each of its 10 regions through early-March.

The “virtual public listening sessions” are supplemental to the overall public comment period on the draft strategy, which closes March 16, 2022. The sessions are opportunities for the public to provide input on how the agency should address lead contamination in communities across the country – including in drinking water systems and soils.

EPA encourages interested stakeholders to engage on the draft, which will serve as a guiding document for future regulatory actions.

According to EPA, the agency intends to approach the issue with three core goals:

• Locally reduce lead exposures with a focus on “communities with disparities” and promotion of environmental justice.
• Implement protective standards, analytical tools, and public outreach to nationally reduce lead exposures.
• Utilize a “whole of EPA” and “whole of government” method of engagement “to focus the full range of resources to reduce lead exposures from all sources in the most impacted communities across the country.”

Click here to submit written public comments online.

Interested stakeholders may register for any of the virtual regional public listening sessions below for an opportunity to provide verbal feedback.

 For more information on EPA’s lead programming, click here.