EPA Commits to Lead-Safe Standards for Older Building Repairs

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.

Cleveland children participate in a community Lead-Safe event. (Photo courtesy Cuyahoga County Board of Health)

"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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