Norton Says Hearing Next Tuesday Will Focus on Solutions to D.C. Lead Issues (6/11/2010)
Norton Says Hearing Next Tuesday Will Focus on Solutions to D.C.'s Lead Issue June 11, 2010 WASHINGTON, DC - Following the reemergence of the controversy on lead in D.C.'s water last month, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) asked the Oversight Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of Columbia, on which she serves, to hold a hearing next Tuesday to take a comprehensive look at the lead issue going forward. The hearing will examine how the District and federal agencies can reduce the exposure of D.C. residents to lead, and the steps necessary to identify and treat children and adults exposed to lead during the District's lead-in-the-water crisis from 2000 to 2004. A May report by the House Science and Technology Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight has thrust the D.C. lead-in-the-water crisis back into public view after the discovery of evidence that suggests the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may have knowingly made inaccurate claims concerning the harm during the lead-in-the-water scare. "Now that we have the facts, it is time to focus on solutions for preventing future exposure to harmful levels of lead in the water and elsewhere, and on treating residents who unknowingly were exposed," said Congresswoman Norton. In 2007, the Congresswoman introduced the Lead-Free Drinking Water Act with then-chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Representative Henry Waxman, to address the issue of lead in drinking water nationally. During the crisis earlier in the decade, Norton held hearings to examine the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority's role in lead contamination of the District's water supply. WHO: The Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of Columbia WHAT: Public Hearing on "Lead Exposure in D.C.: Prevention, Protection, and Potential Prescriptions" WHERE: 2154 Rayburn House Office Building WHEN: Tuesday, June 15, 2 p.m. |