Rep. Pat Ryan and Environmental Protection Agency leaders met on Tuesday to discuss the removal of lead pipes in Poughkeepsie.

The meeting, Ryan said, was to ensure the EPA saw first-hand the scope of the city's lead pipe crisis.

Ryan, state officials and city officials announced last month they're going to replace all 5,500 lead service-lines in the city in 10 years. The city of Poughkeepsie received criticism after concerned residents released a memo stating that since 2018 the city has only fully replaced 14 lead service lines using about $500,000 in state-grant money.

"There was a little over $100 million in the state last year for this program, and over $400,000 worth of applications," said Ryan. "So it's a competitive program. Every community in the state and the country needs this help. That's why it's so important to put forward the best application."

Poughkeepsie resident Cooper Miller, who helped reveal the extent of the lead crisis, added: "I was really amazed at what an activist like me could do get three or four levels of government and two different parties together to speak on an issue."

Ryan confirmed the Miller and other residents' research that 1 in 10 Poughkeepsie children have lead poisoning.