Democratic candidates debate in Detroit Michigan, July 30-31, 2019: on Environment

Bill de Blasio: Get rid of all lead in housing & schools, once and for all

DE BLASIO: We have a huge problem, and it's decades old in New York. But here's what we've done about it. We've declared the eradication of all lead, as the goal of our administration. Lead poisoning has gone down 90% since 2005, and we're going to literally bring it down to zero, because we're going to go into every place--buildings, schools, public housing--and remediate that lead once and for all.

Now, the federal government for decades have been disinvesting in the public housing that was supposed to be a federal responsibility. That's part of why we have this lead crisis to begin with. In NYC, we are going to eradicate lead. And there should be a federal mandate to do the same for Flint, and for every place in this country.

Jay Inslee: Middle ground solutions aren't going to save our air & water

V.P. Joe BIDEN: There is no middle ground about my plan.

INSLEE: These deadlines are set by science. Mr. Vice President, your argument is not with me, it's with science. Unfortunately, your plan is just too late. The science tells us we have to get off coal in 10 years. Your plan does not do that. We have to have off of fossil fuels in our electrical grid in 15. Your plan simply does not do that. I believe that survival is realistic, and that's the kind of plan we need. And that's the kind I have.

Julian Castro: I dealt with lead in water in Flint as HUD Secretary

CASTRO: Well, because people don't have to wonder what I would do; I've actually done it. I was secretary of housing and urban development when Flint had its water crisis. I went to Flint. We did what we could to help folks get water filters. And then we didn't stop there. We improved the standard of how we deal with elevated blood lead levels in children. A lot of Americans don't know that this is still a major problem out there. I was back in Flint about six weeks ago, and I released a plan to invest $50 billion so that we remove lead as a major public health threat. We need to do it. We can do it. And I will do it if I'm president.

Kirsten Gillibrand: Why not have clean air and clean water for all Americans?

Beto O`Rourke: Bring everyone into process with conservation easements

Marianne Williamson: Flint is just tip of the iceberg of environmental injustice

WILLIAMSON: My response is that Flint is just the tip of the iceberg. We have an administration that has gutted the Clean Water Act. We have communities, particularly communities of color and disadvantaged communities all over this country who are suffering from environmental injustice. This is part of the dark underbelly of American society. It's bigger than Flint it's particularly people who do not have the money to fight back.