PA Map Shows Radon Concerns Across Commonwealth
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) today joined a bipartisan group of his colleagues requesting a meeting with Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson. The senators wrote to Secretary Carson to get answers on why the agency has failed to protect tenants living in federally-subsidized housing from the cancer-causing dangers of radon and to chart a path forward to resolve this serious health hazard.
“Because HUD has not answered previously-asked questions regarding the presence of radon in public housing, we respectfully request a meeting with you to discuss ways we can work together to solve this issue once and for all,” the senators wrote today in a letter to Secretary Carson. “We are eager to work with you to protect Americans – especially the elderly, those with disabilities, and children and families – living in federally-subsidized housing from the risks posed by high radon levels, and urge you to take swift action to address this problem.”
Despite a federal mandate to “develop an effective departmental policy for dealing with radon contamination... to ensure that occupants of [public housing] are not exposed to hazardous levels of radon,” recent investigative reporting by The Oregonian showed that tenants of public housing across the country continue to be exposed to hazardous levels of radon.
In addition to a meeting with Secretary Carson, the senators also asked the Administration include in the President’s Fiscal Year 2021 Budget a request for funds to sufficiently help public housing agencies test for and mitigate high radon levels in federally-subsidized housing.
Senator Casey was joined by Senators Rob Portman (R-OH), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Angus King (I-ME), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) in sending the letter to Secretary Carson.
A copy of the letter can be found here.
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