Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Cyndi Roper
Michigan Primed for First Statewide Water Affordability Program in United States
Every day, tens of millions of people in the United States worry about how they’ll make their monthly budget—housing, food, medicine, utilities, and more. For many, even paying the water bill is out of reach without sacrificing some other, equally essential need. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has estimated that 12 to 19 million low-income households (9.2 to 14.6 percent of all U.S. households) face unaffordable water bills.
Water Affordability: 2024 Year in Review
[For more posts from this author, please see these blogs and LinkedIn articles.] As attention to our nation’s safe drinking water needs continues to grow, so too does attention to the nation’s water affordability challenges, particularly for low-income households. To succeed in providing universal access to safe water, we must ensure both that no one loses access because they can’t afford their water bill and that utilities have the funds they need to provide safe water to everyone.
Michigan Adopts Filter First Protections for Kids
Michigan just took another major step forward in the fight to get lead out of drinking water by adopting the nation’s strongest protections for kids at schools and childcare centers.
Six Years After Our Flint Settlement, We Still Seek Justice
Guest Blog By: Allen C. Overton and Melissa Mays The word Flint has become synonymous with contaminated drinking water, poor governmental response, and community activism that ignited a national conversation about the safety of our tap water. Our hometown put a spotlight on America’s poor water infrastructure and the country’s severe problem with lead, a potent neurotoxin that is especially harmful to the developing brains of infants and children. And because of us, no one will look away again.
Lead Pipe Funding Shortchanges States with the Most Lead Water Pipes
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA)—also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law—includes a $15 billion commitment to replace the nation’s lead pipes that connect an estimated 9 to 12 million homes throughout the United States to the drinking water mains in their streets. NRDC fought alongside community partners and others to secure this $15 billion, and now we are working with these groups to ensure a fair and equitable distribution of the funds.
Divine Intervention Should Not Be Required for Safe Water
Guest blog by Reverend Edward Pinkney BANCO Lead in Water Education Day, July 10, 2021 Photo by Cyndi Roper Benton Harbor has been in the news lately for its elevated lead levels in drinking water, but the problem has gone on for at least three years. Here is Rev. Edward Pinkney's take on the situation in the form of a guest blog. I decided to become a pastor because I’m called to serve people and have spent my life working to further social and economic justice as instructed in Micah 6:8.
Federal Push to Get the Lead Out of Water: Homes & Schools
Opportunities in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) and the American Jobs Plan (AJP) Background Lead is a poisonous heavy metal that can affect almost every organ and system in the human body, often with irreversible effects. The Centers for Disease Control, American Academy of Pediatrics and the World Health Organization all state that there is no safe level of lead exposure.
MI Lawmakers Introduce Lead in Water Protections for Kids
Today, Michigan Senators Curt VanderWall (R-Ludington) and Jim Ananich (D-Flint) reintroduced their bills to help ensure kids throughout Michigan can access lead-free drinking water at schools and childcare centers. By sponsoring Senate Bill 184 and Senate Bill 185, which are based on NRDC’s Filter First approach, Senators VanderWall and Ananich and their co-sponsors are going straight to the solution by installing lead-removing filtered water stations.
800,000+ People Risk Water Shutoffs In The Great Lakes State
November 30th, 2020 by NRDC Originally published on the NRDC Expert Blog. by Cyndi Roper , co-authored with Sylvia Orduño, People’s Water Board Coalition More than 317,000 households serving an estimated 800,000 Michiganders throughout Michigan are known to be behind on their water bills and could face water shutoffs, according to new data (XLS) compiled by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in collaboration with the People’s Water Board Coalition (PWBC).
800,000-Plus Risk Water Shutoffs in the Great Lakes State
Co-authored with Sylvia Orduño, People's Water Board Coalition Skitterphoto on Pexels More than 317,000 households serving an estimated 800,000 Michiganders throughout Michigan are known to be behind on their water bills and could face water shutoffs, according to new data (XLS) compiled by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in collaboration with the People’s Water Board Coalition (PWBC). The data show that this is a bipartisan crisis.
Bold Protections Against Toxic Forever Chemicals in Michigan’s Tap Water
The state has joined the ranks of states that are leading the way in protecting public drinking water from PFAS.
MI Governor Leads the Way with Water Reconnection Order
For weeks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sounded the alarm telling us that handwashing is the number one thing we can do to prevent the spread of COVID-19. But as thousands of Michiganders know, you can’t wash your hands without running water. On March 28, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer became the first—and as of today—only Governor to ensure running water will be restored to all occupied households served by public water systems across an entire state.
Michigan Lawmakers Take Up Bipartisan "Filter First" Bills
Last October, the Michigan House and Senate introduced bills designed to get the lead out of drinking water in schools and childcare facilities. By sponsoring NRDC’s Filter First approach, a bipartisan team of lawmakers in both chambers went straight to the solution rather than—as you’ll see below—wasting money on testing for lead in school drinking water.
MI Takes First Step to Address Lead in School Drinking Water
Last October, the Michigan House and Senate introduced bills designed to get the lead out of drinking water in schools and childcare facilities. By sponsoring NRDC’s Filter First approach, a bipartisan team of lawmakers in both chambers went straight to the solution rather than—as you’ll see below—wasting money on testing for lead in school drinking water.
Bipartisan Bills Aim to Get the Lead Out of School Water
The Flint Water Crisis tragically highlighted for most Michiganders the damaging health effects of drinking water contaminated with lead. While Flint residents continue recovering from the devastating effects of the Crisis, policy makers have begun taking seriously the need to remove lead from our drinking water. In 2018, Michigan became the first state to strengthen the grossly inadequate federal Lead and Copper Rule.
Michigan Proposes Strong, Yet Incomplete PFAS Protections
Michigan is proposing some of the most health-protective standards in the nation for several per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a group of chemicals of great environmental and health concern—yet could be missing out on the opportunity to protect its citizens in the long-term. Michigan has performed the most comprehensive PFAS monitoring in the nation, and the state has begun taking steps to protect it citizens from the health risk these dangerous ‘forever’ chemicals pose.
Michigan Proposes Strong, Yet Incomplete PFAS Protections
Michigan is proposing some of the most health-protective standards in the nation for several per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a group of chemicals of great environmental and health concern - yet could be missing out on the opportunity to protect its citizens in the long-term. Michigan has performed the most comprehensive PFAS monitoring in the nation, and the state has begun taking steps to protect it citizens from the health risk these dangerous ‘forever’ chemicals pose.
Why Do Some Michigan Water Agencies Oppose the Quest for Safe Water?
Replacing the state’s lead service lines will be a massive undertaking, but five years after the Flint water crisis, residents deserve no less. Workers replace water service lines in Flint, Michigan, in 2016 Jim West/Alamy Live News The water crisis in Flint, Michigan, made headlines worldwide as an example of environmental injustice and governmental malfeasance writ large.
Michigan Must Turn the Page on Past Pitfalls
This is a guest post by Jeremy Orr. Last night, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer delivered her first State of the State address. It was a sobering speech that made one thing very clear: Michigan has a lot of work to do. While true on many fronts, nowhere are these sentiments more prevalent than in the areas of protecting the health and well-being of Michigan residents and the environment.
A Secret War on Lead Protections for Michigan’s Kids
If I were to tell you that our local authorities are quietly trying to repeal recently-adopted state rules that would protect our children from toxic lead in their tap water, would you believe it? Even after Flint? Unfortunately, that’s exactly what they’re doing. The latest unreported news is that Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and other local elected officials, are leading the charge to block the new state protections for our kids against lead-contaminated drinking water.
Michigan Moves to Eliminate Lead Drinking Water Pipes
Flint, Michigan will forever be the symbol of a government’s willingness to play fast and loose with the health of a majority non-white community. An unelected and unaccountable emergency manager tried to save a few bucks by switching Flint's drinking water source from Lake Huron to the Flint River. The health impacts and other devastation are well-documented, but it will take years to know the full damage caused by this fateful decision.
Flint Settlement: First Round Testing Results Reported
On April 13, 2018, Dr. Susan Masten from Michigan State University released the results of lead testing she conducted in Flint from August 2017 - March 2018. The testing was performed as part of the March 2017 landmark settlement reached in a Safe Drinking Water Act lawsuit brought by Flint community groups, NRDC, and ACLU-MI. Under the settlement, the State of Michigan provide up to $97 million dollars to the City of Flint for the removal Flint’s lead and galvanized steel pipes by 2020.
Polluters Getting Closer to Full MDEQ Takeover
Michigan in the 1970s and 80s was a leader in natural resource protection and policies that safeguarded residents from the harmful effects of pollution. Today too many politicians are choosing to represent their corporate donors instead of us, their constituents. Every day they are chiseling away at these safeguards in nearly every imaginable way—from drastically cutting funding for permitting, monitoring, and anti-pollution enforcement to eliminating polluter pay laws.
Will MI Lawmakers Put Industry in Charge of Environment?
As the community of Flint continues to rebuild and replace its lead service lines under a court ordered settlement, Governor Snyder recently announced the disappointing decision that Michigan will stop providing free bottled water to the residents.
The Wait Begins: Will Snyder Get the Lead Out of Our Water?
The public comment period for Michigan’s proposed changes to the Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) closed this week. NRDC’s comments sought to ensure the rule actually does what it seeks to do: reduce the amount of lead in our drinking water. So far, it falls short of that mark. When the rulemaking process started, Governor Snyder was pushing for a basic idea: Michigan would remove all of the lead pipes, which provide water to roughly 500,000 homes in Michigan.
The Hidden Costs & Dangers of Partial Lead Pipe Replacements
Michigan recently proposed changes to a drinking water safeguard known as the Lead and Copper Rule, which is supposed to help remove lead from drinking water. But it may not live up to this expectation because it allows water utilities to do what are called partial lead service line replacements. To understand what a partial replacement is, it’s helpful to know how water is delivered to our homes.
Will Michigan Lead on Getting Lead Out of Drinking Water?
The Flint Water Crisis is a constant and tragic reminder of what can go wrong when you combine weak drinking water safeguards, an underfunded and politically restrained oversight agency, and a severely weakened democracy. Thanks to the recent settlement NRDC secured with help from the ACLU and local partners, Flint is in the process of replacing an estimated 18,000 lead pipes connecting homes to water mains.
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with Cyndi
Contact Cyndi, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack