Clean water advocates rally outside Mike Lawler’s Mahopac district office

CARMEL, N.Y. — “Protect our water, Lawler!” and “Hey, hey, Lawler, lead pipes have to go!” “What do we want? Safe water! When do we want it? Now!”   

More than a dozen people gathered outside the Carmel Town Hall on Wednesday morning, joining chants led by Eric Weltman, a senior organizer at Food & Water Watch. Local legislators, organizers and representatives from Grassroots Environmental Education, the Sierra Club Lower Hudson Group, and other community members rallied in support of a federal rule requiring the replacement of aging lead water pipes, which they called a “poison” to constituents.  

The group, who braved the cold to stand outside Congressman Mike Lawler’s Mahopac district office, called on him to oppose an effort by House Republicans, who are considering efforts to repeal the Lead Out of Water Rule, announced last fall. The rule mandates the replacement of all lead service lines over the next decade, a measure that advocates said “protect New York families from toxic lead pipes.”   

Peekskill resident Tina Volz-Bongar of United for Clean Energy said she wants to see Lawler be vocal and back his constituents on this issue.    

“We need a public statement that he is going to not only vote—he’s going to ask his Republican colleagues to pull the bill,” she said to the crowd. “Our representative in Hudson Valley—we need to know that they’re going to stand by clean water no matter what.”    

Lawler was not at his Mahopac office, located at Town Hall, on Wednesday.  

“Congressman Lawler has brought back tens of millions of dollars to the Hudson Valley for clean and safe drinking water. In the 118th Congress, he introduced bipartisan legislation like the Financing Lead Out of Water Act with Democratic Congressman Dan Kildee for this very purpose,” Nate Soule, spokesman for Lawler, said in a statement to Mahopac News when asked about Wednesday’s rally.   

During the rally, Putnam County Legislator Nancy Montgomery, the lone Democrat on the nine-member governing body, said she and Lawler have more in common than they do apart.    

“We share these constituents here, who have come out to his office to ask him to pull the bill. We’ve done the work, the Biden-Harris administration did the work to protect our water, they implemented funding to protect our water,” Montgomery said. “Call it what you want—remove Biden-Harris from the name of it, but let’s do this together.”   

She said this is “not a partisan issue,” adding that lead is a “potent neurotoxin.”   

Rockland County Legislator Beth Davidson echoed Montgomery’s sentiments and said 60 children recently tested posted for lead poisoning in her county.  

She reminded those in attendance and those watching via livestream that the issue is not happening elsewhere; it is impacting their very own community. She, too, called on Lawler, who is also from Rockland. 

“Like everyone here, I’ll be waiting to see if Congressman Lawler stands with his caucus or our kids.”   

Ellen Weininger, director of educational outreach at Grassroots Environmental Education, also spoke out on the issue and called the science “clear” and that there is “no safe level exposure to that for anyone.”   

She added that she believes Lawler should treat this issue “with the utmost urgency and demand by making the replacement of lead water pipes his top priority to protect our water and our future and to ensure that his colleagues in his caucus do the same.”      

Soule emphasized that Lawler is not in support of the legislation and wants to focus on togetherness.  

 “The legislation in question — which the Congressman doesn’t support — has zero cosponsors and will never pass. Instead of protesting someone who shares their goals, our office encourages these folks to prioritize making progress over pointing fingers and work with the Congressman to protect our drinking water for everyone.”