Washington, DC - U.S. Senator Jim Jeffords (I-VT) and several of his colleagues on the Environment and Public Works Committee are demanding answers from the EPA in the wake of a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report which questioned the effectiveness of the EPA’s lead rule. The report also raises the specter that conditions surrounding the elevated lead levels in Washington, DC were not unique but systemic could occur elsewhere in the United States. In a letter to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson, Senators Clinton, Obama, Lieberman, Lautenberg and Boxer joined Jeffords in stating, “The GAO report identifies significant, systemic problems, including a lack of reliable data at the EPA on which to base decisions. [W]e believe that EPA must make preventing unnecessary public lead exposure a high priority, especially because our nation’s children suffer the greatest risk and impacts. Lead poisoning is entirely preventable and EPA must work to remove the source of the problem from our public water systems by implementing these recommendations.” The Senators also urged Johnson to re-evaluate EPA’s conclusions regarding the weaknesses in the lead and copper regulatory program. Senator Jeffords is ranking member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. Click here for a copy of the letter.