Lead Based Paint

Bloomberg Law

National – EPA has failed to update the definition of lead-based paint, leaving children at risk of lead poisoning, environmental and community groups will argue before the Ninth Circuit Tuesday. The EPA issued a final rule in July 2019 that included the definition and lowered the level at which dust containing lead is considered a hazard, but those dust-lead hazard standards are still too high to protect the public, the Sierra Club, California Communities Against Toxics, and other environmental groups say in their petition for review in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.  

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Washington, DC – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today awarded more than $9 million in Healthy Homes Production grants to twelve tribes and tribal agencies to protect children and families from home health and safety hazards. Tribes and Tribally Designated Housing conditions can be improved by addressing factors such as lead paint, indoor air quality and ventilation, heating devices, and moisture damage. The grant funding announced will assist and protect families by targeting health hazards in the homes of 630 low-income families where significant home health and safety hazards exist. 

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Habitat Magazine

by Kathryn Farrell
New York, NY – The city has enacted stricter regulations on detecting lead-based paint inside apartments – yet another item for the to-do lists of some co-op and condo boards and their management companies. Local Law 31, which went into effect on Aug. 9, requires an X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analyzer inspection to be performed within the next five years in certain apartments. The XRF test must be performed by an inspector certified by the Environmental Protection Agency who has no relation to either the board or the company that does the building’s lead-remediation work. 

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New York Post

New York, NY – Documents coughed up under the Freedom Of Information Law again show that the de Blasio administration downplayed the true scale and scope of lead exposure crisis in public housing. From 2010 to ’18, city health inspectors found lead in 222 NYCHA units across 93 developments — more than a quarter of all complexes citywide. Experts say that finding lead in one apartment meant the poison likely was present throughout the building. Yet NYCHA leaders opted to avoid costly remediation by challenging findings — successfully, in 158 cases. 

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LA Time

by Ben Brazil
Santa Ana, CA – There are potentially unhealthy levels of lead in low-income and predominately Latino neighborhoods in Santa Ana, a new report finds. Local organization Orange County Environmental Justice partnered with UC Irvine and other community members over the last three years for the study. The coalition analyzed more than 1,500 soil samples from more than 500 locations, finding that the samples ranged from 11.4 to 2,687 parts per million, with an average soil sample of 123.1 ppm. The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment considers anything above 80 ppm in a residential area as hazardous to health. About half of the soil samples exceeded the California safety recommendation. 

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Washington, DC – The EPA released a proposal Wednesday to reduce the amount of lead that can remain in dust on floors and windowsills after lead removal activities to better protect children from the harmful effects of lead exposure. The proposed, tighter standards would increase the effectiveness of work done to remove lead-based paint hazards in pre-1978 homes and childcare facilities, known as abatement, and lower the risk of lead exposure by ensuring that lead-based paint hazards are effectively and permanently eliminated following completion of the work.

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KWQC

Davenport, IA – EPA has reached a settlement with a Moline busines for its failure to provide proper disclosure of lead paint at residential properties in Davenport. The EPA says Selby Enterprises LLC will pay a penalty and complete an environmentally beneficial project for its violations of the Real Estate Notification and Disclosure Rules under the federal Toxic Substances Control Act.The matter was referred to EPA by the Scott County Health Department. The company has also agreed to complete abatement and clearance testing of lead-based paint at a Davenport house built in 1905, through a certified lead abatement contractor at the cost of $14,250.