I Represent Children in Flint, Michigan. Here's What I'm Asking Biden to Do

By Corey Stern, Guardian UK

02 February 21

Every single American has a right to live and work in a safe environment. President Biden can help ensure we can

n his first 100 days, President Biden is racing to secure comprehensive reforms that both address the immediate challenges of today’s concurrent crises and make our economy and society more resilient for the future. Next month, he’ll unveil the second part of his recovery plan which is expected to focus on infrastructure investment and job creation. It is crucial that this plan includes an emphasis on protecting the health and safety of communities that are consistently failed – and often seriously harmed – by ageing infrastructure. Biden has already put equity and justice at the center of his climate plans, but he’ll need to do the same for any infrastructure plan he puts forward.

For too long the burden of our crumbling infrastructure has not been equally felt. As of last January, lead in ageing pipes, contaminated soil and old, peeling paint was found in 3.6m homes nationwide – most of which are concentrated in low-income neighborhoods. I’ve ridden the unhurried roads to justice for communities that have been debilitated by public officials allowing infrastructure to fall into disrepair. I’ve represented thousands of children exposed to lead-based paint hazards in New York City public housing, and I currently represent 3,000 young victims of the Flint water crisis and their parents.

In fact, just last week a judge granted preliminary approval of the historic $641m settlement we reached with the state of Michigan and other defendants responsible for the lead poisoning of innocent families and children. But the proposed settlement represents a rare moment of justice in a country that has a history riddled with tragedies like the one that took place in Flint, Michigan.

The Biden administration now has the opportunity – and the obligation – to change that trajectory. He can ensure infrastructure gets modernized while achieving his goals of creating new jobs and holding polluters accountable. Here are three ideas for how he can do it.

First, Biden’s infrastructure plans should include investments to finally deliver clean water and shelter for every American. This is basic stuff, and he doesn’t have to reinvent the wheel to follow through: last year, Senator Cory Booker and the then representative Deb Haaland introduced a proposal to clean up dangerous Superfund sites, replace wastewater systems and lead pipes, and remove lead-based paint in low-income and tribal communities. And of course, Senator Elizabeth Warren has a plan for this too, which mandates that the federal government fully fund drinking water infrastructure and install filtering systems to clean up our drinking water – all while creating 190,000 new jobs. Both of these are good ideas, and they share a common component: putting people to work at a time when jobs are sorely needed, while delivering on a fundamental right for millions of Americans.

Second, Biden recently created a new division at the Department of Justice (DoJ) that will focus on environmental justice and support “ongoing plaintiff-driven climate litigation against polluters”. That’s important, but we also need to make sure those who are funding and profiting from pollution are held liable. I recently filed suit against the big banks – JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Stifel Nicolaus – that provided the loans to Flint so it could change its water source back in 2014, knowing full well it would lead to toxic lead exposure in the community. Over six years later, those banks still haven’t been held responsible for their role in creating one of the worst environmental justice disasters in our history. The Biden administration should change what has been a default position of denial and dismissal in dealing with environmental claims and implement a policy that presumes environmental harm if someone goes so far as to make a claim – which already requires claimants to meet a high threshold.

Lastly, President Biden must follow through on and provide more clarity to his commitment to provide disadvantaged communities with 40% of overall benefits from investments made in the remediation and reduction of legacy pollution and the development of clean water infrastructure. “Building back better” means being explicit about the people who have been left behind. The Biden administration must ensure that at-risk communities receive restitution, and then develop strategies to break the cycles of injustice that led to their being harmed in the first place. That means they should be prioritized in job creation and in creating solutions to these problems. For example, if water pipelines are going to be repaired, the jobs for doing so should be filled by diverse, local workers.

From New York to Flint, I’ve seen that it’s always the same under-resourced, low-income communities that bear the brunt of our nation’s infrastructure failures. My job shouldn’t exist. People shouldn’t need advocates fighting for justice after they’ve been poisoned in their own homes, schools, and places of work. Every single American has a right to live and work in a safe environment, free from the fear that the infrastructure around them will threaten their health and safety. President Biden – and all of our nation’s leaders – must fight to see that right become a reality for everyone. At this point, there’s simply no excuse for failing to do so.