Lead-Safe Standards for Older Building Repairs

Lead-Safe Standards for Older Building Repairs



Feb, 2008  - Under threat of a lawsuit and 
political pressure, the Bush administration today filed in federal court a 
pledge to finalize rules requiring that repairs and renovations in 
pre-1978 housing and child-care facilities are done in a lead-safe manner. 

The legal settlement between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and 
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, PEER, was filed in the 
U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. 
When fully implemented, the lead-safe standards will close the principal 
pathway by which children in millions of homes across the U.S. are exposed 
to lead dust, PEER said. 
Dust thrown up in renovation and repair of older residences permeates 
carpeting, ductwork and soil, so that children breathe the dust for 
months. In cities with older housing bases, such as Minneapolis and New 
York, a large percentage of children suffer from elevated blood lead 
levels. 

In Chicago, for example, more than 20 percent of children under age five 
have blood levels above those associated with harmful health effects, such 
as mental retardation, stunted growth and premature death. 
"By their scope, these rules will not only be one of the largest public 
health regulatory endeavors of the Bush administration but it will also be 
one of the most cost beneficial," said PEER Senior Counsel Paula 
Dinerstein, who negotiated the settlement. "Needlessly exposing millions 
of our children to lead dust is a national tragedy." 
By law, the EPA was supposed to adopt lead-safe regulations for repairs 
and renovations in older housing by October 28, 1996. Up until 2005, EPA 
claimed that, while tardy, it was still working to develop rules. 
That year, however, PEER discovered "the EPA public statements were false 
because the agency had made a secret decision to abandon the rules 
altogether." 
PEER and a coalition of community groups filed suit against the EPA in 
December 2005. 
The federal agency proposed lead repair and renovation rules in January 
2006, facing the lawsuit and under political pressure led by Senators 
Barack Obama of Illinois and Hillary Clinton of New York, currently the 
final two contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination. 
According to EPA estimates, each year 1.4 million children under age seven 
are at risk of lead exposure due to unsafe repair and renovations. 
The vast majority of 20 to 30 million older-home repair projects each year 
are done without lead-safe cleanup and contamination practices, the EPA 
estimates. 
Lead-safe repair rules will create a net benefit of between $2.7 and $4.1 
billion annually by preventing illnesses, disability and premature death, 
the EPA says in information obtained by PEER. 
Under the settlement, the EPA committed to impose lead training, 
certification, and lead-safe work practice requirements for contractors on 
all pre-1978 single and multiple unit dwellings. 
In addition, the agency agreed to cover day care centers and other 
child-occupied buildings that were omitted from its original proposal. 
These rules would become final by March 31, 2008, subject to possible 
extensions that could not go beyond July 31, 2008. 
"While these rules are not perfect, they are a big stride toward our 
national goal of eliminating childhood lead poisoning," Dinerstein said. 
Joining PEER in filing suit was a coalition of community and public health 
groups, including the Maine Lead Action Project; The Lead and 
Environmental Hazards Association based in Olney, Maryland; Project 504 
based in Minneapolis; Group 14621 Community Association, Inc. of 
Rochester, New York; the Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry based in 
Cleveland; and two Indianapolis organizations - Improving Kids’ 
Environment and Organization of the New Eastside. 

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