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By Michael Phillis

The Associated Press

ST. LOUIS 鈥� As the Biden administration makes billions of dollars available to remove millions of dangerous lead pipes that can contaminate drinking water and damage brain development in children, some states are turning down funds.

Washington, Oregon, Maine and Alaska declined all or most of their federal funds in the first of five years that the mix of grants and loans is available, The Associated Press found. Some聽states are less prepared聽to pay for lead removal projects because, in many cases, the lead must first be found, experts said. And communities are hesitant to take out loans to search for their lead pipes.

States shouldn鈥檛 鈥渟hrug their shoulders鈥� and pass up funds, said Erik Olson, a health and food expert at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

鈥淚t鈥檚 troubling that a state would decide to take a complete pass on the funding because part of the reason for the funding is to figure out whether you even have lead,鈥� Olson said.

The Biden administration wants to remove all聽9.2 million lead pipes聽carrying water to U.S. homes. Lead can lower IQ and create behavioral problems in children. The聽2021 infrastructure law聽provides $15 billion to find and replace them. That money will help, but it isn鈥檛 enough to get all the toxic pipes out of the ground. State programs distribute the federal funds to utilities.

The Environmental Protection Agency said it is reviewing state requests to decline funds but did not provide a full list of states that have said no. That information will be available in October, officials said. States that declined first-year funds can still accept them during the remaining four years.

鈥淓PA has been working closely with our state partners on utilizing Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding that is available,鈥� the agency said.

Lead pipes are far more common in some states such as Michigan聽and Illinois, which each have hundreds of thousands. The harm there is clear. In Flint, Michigan, elevated lead in tap water became a national health issue. Residents of Benton Harbor, Michigan,聽drank water with too much聽lead for years until聽all their lead pipes were replaced. In response, however, Michigan is clamoring for as much money as it can get to remove lead pipes.

The states that declined funds have fewer problematic pipes, but that doesn鈥檛 mean lead isn鈥檛 an issue. There鈥檚聽concern about lead聽in some Maine schools. Portland, Oregon, has struggled with high lead levels for years, although recent tests have been better and officials say the issue isn鈥檛 lead pipes, but rather household plumbing.

Washington accepted $85,000 of $63 million it could have taken and said the decision was based on the limited number of water systems that wanted loans. The EPA estimates the state has 22,000 lead pipes. Oregon officials, who could have accepted $37 million, said inventories will be performed with existing staff and resources, adding that utilities have no known lead lines. The EPA projected that the state has 3,530 lead pipes 鈥� a relatively small number 鈥� based in part on information collected from utilities.

The locations of many lead pipes aren’t known. The EPA is requiring communities to provide initial inventories of their lead pipes by October 2024. Maine, which banned lead pipes far earlier than most states, said other funds would be used for inventories and they didn鈥檛 have lead replacement projects ready to fund. Most states that rejected funding initially indicated they would probably ask for money in later years.

To access the grants, there also needs to be demand for loans but utilities are hesitant to seek them out, according to Deirdre Finn, executive director of the Council of Infrastructure Financing Authorities, a group that represents the federally funded state programs that distribute infrastructure funds.

鈥淭his is a great opportunity,鈥� Finn said. 鈥淏ut it would be helpful if states and utilities had access to 100 percent grant funding to move these projects along.鈥�

Federal funds can only go to replacement projects that remove the entire lead pipe. Lead pipes run from the water main in the street to homes, but ownership of the pipe is often split between the utility and the homeowner.聽Some cities replace just the portion they own聽鈥� a harmful practice that spikes lead levels 鈥� and paying to replace the homeowner鈥檚 side is often a problem. Grants can help utilities pay to replace the homeowner鈥檚 side, Finn said.

The EPA offered early funds based on a state鈥檚 general drinking water infrastructure needs 鈥� not the number of lead pipes. The EPA later developed estimates of each state鈥檚 lead pipes to inform how future years of funding should be distributed. Therefore, some states were offered more early money than they can spend.

In May, for example, Alaska officials told the EPA they wanted just $6.8 million of the $28 million allocated to the state. Carrie Bohan, facilities program manager in the division of water at the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, said utilities鈥� demand for loans to inventory their systems for lead pipes is 鈥渧ery, very small.鈥� But over five years, there will be plenty of federal funds available to find the small number of lead pipes in Alaska and replace them.

Money not received will be redistributed to other states that need it.

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 a potential disservice to other states if we were to apply for the full amount knowing that we couldn鈥檛 make use of it,鈥� Bohan said.

But just figuring out how to distribute the money based on need is difficult. In April, the EPA鈥檚 lead pipe estimate surprised some experts by predicting that Florida had 1.16 million 鈥� the most of any state.

The higher estimate meant Florida would get more funds, but state officials objected. They argued that utilities would find far more lead in tap water if so many lead pipes really existed.

鈥淥nce these lead line surveys are completed, it is expected that the actual extent of facilities with lead service lines documented in Florida will be significantly less than what was estimated by the EPA,鈥� said Brian Miller, a spokesperson with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.