Lead Based Paint

EPA Washington, DC

As part of National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week, today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) highlighted several federal enforcement actions completed from October 2021 through September 2022, as well as future planned investigations. These actions ensure that renovation contractors, landlords and realtors comply with rules that protect the public from exposure to lead from lead paint. By bringing companies into compliance with these rules, EPA protects future customers and their families. For the full text, click here.

Paint Square EPA Region 10

As a result of being found in violation of lead-based paint safety regulations, 22 residential home renovators and contractors from Idaho and Washington recently settled with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 10. The fines are a result of the EPA’s compliance and enforcement program having conducted 137 inspections of home renovation contractors. According to the EPA, the number of inspections is the highest the region has completed in previous years. Half of the inspections were reportedly carried out in communities with environmental justice concerns. For the full text, click here.

EPA Portsmouth, VA

As part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to advancing environmental justice, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is targeting its Enhancing Lead-Safe Work Practices through Education and Outreach (ELSWPEO) initiative to raise awareness about childhood lead exposure and protect environmentally overburdened communities. The next Mid-Atlantic ELSWPEO opportunity is scheduled for Portsmouth, Virginia.  For the full text, click here.

As part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to advancing environmental justice, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is targeting its Enhancing Lead-Safe Work Practices through Education and Outreach (ELSWPEO) initiative to raise awareness about childhood lead exposure and protect environmentally overburdened communities. The next Mid-Atlantic ELSWPEO opportunity is scheduled for Portsmouth, Virginia.  For the full text, click here.

World Health Organization International

The global status of legally binding controls on lead paint is regularly monitored and updated in the WHO Global Health Observatory. An annual report on the Global Status of Lead Paint Laws is one of the activities of the Global Alliance to Eliminate Lead Paint (Lead Paint Alliance). UNEP and WHO serve as the joint Secretariat for this international voluntary initiative which promotes establishing lead paint laws in all countries as one of its key priorities. For the full text and to download the report, click here.

EPA San Francisco, CA

EPA announced a settlement with NRT West Inc. dba Coldwell Banker to resolve claims of ten violations of the Toxic Substances Control Act at seven residential properties in and around the cities of San Jose, Sunnyvale, and Vallejo, California. Acting as the agent for the seller in a real estate transaction, NRT West failed to ensure that the sellers properly disclosed information related to lead-based paint in its sales contracts and will pay a penalty of $35,433. For the full text, click here.

WRGB Albany by Conor Wight

Syracuse, NY -In Syracuse, hundreds of kids become lead poisoned in their own homes every year. The city has one of the highest rates of teen violence in the country. Syracuse researchers and activists are now looking to show the two tragic realities are intertwined and that removing lead from homes will ultimately save lives that would have otherwise been lost in homicides. Syracuse University’s Dr. Rubenstein and Dr. Sandra Lane have spent decades researching the impact lead has on children and the resulting domino effect on the local public health and safety infrastructure. For the full text, click here.

Chalkbeat Colorado by Anne Schimke

Colorado – A new state law will require about 5,800 Colorado elementary schools and child care centers to test their drinking water for lead and install filters or do repairs if they find elevated levels. Schools and child care facilities will have until May 31 to test their water and will have to make fixes if lead levels are 5 parts per billion or higher. That threshold is the same as the limit set by the federal government for bottled water but lower than what most Colorado school districts previously used. For the full text, click here.

NPR by Allison Kite

Trenton, MO – It took three years for officials to notice lead was seeping into the city’s drinking water. Missouri regulators had given the green light in 2014 for Trenton to start adding monochloramine to its drinking water to disinfect it without the harmful byproducts of chlorine. But by 2017, the city noticed something alarming. Lead levels in drinking water in the northwest Missouri town — population 5,609 — had spiked. Over the next two years, one-quarter of the homes tested exceeded the Environmental Protection Agency’s action level — 15 parts per billion — at least once. For the full text, click here.

Federal Register

National – OSHA is considering rulemaking to revise its standards for occupational exposure to lead-based on medical findings since the issuance of OSHA’s lead standards that adverse health effects in adults can occur at Blood Lead Levels (BLLs) lower than the medical removal level (?60 µg/dL in general industry, ?50 µg/dL in construction) and lower than the level required under current standards for an employee to Rhoades Environmental turn to their former job status (<40 µg/dL). The agency is seeking input through August 29. For the full text, click here.

EPA Boston, MA

EPA has reached a settlement with American Wire, LLC, a Rhode Island corporation, for alleged violations of the Lead Renovation, Repair, and Painting (RRP) Rule during 2020 renovation and construction activities at a Pawtucket, R.I. property known as American Wire Residential Lofts. As the result of an investigation that included an on-site inspection coordinated with the Rhode Island Department of Health, EPA determined that among other alleged violations, American Wire was not a Rhode Island Lead Hazard Control licensed firm (the equivalent of an EPA-certified firm). EPA also alleged that the company failed to ensure that a certified Lead Renovator was designated as the person responsible for oversight of each renovation project in a building being renovated for residential occupancy. Pursuant to the settlement, American Wire has paid a fine of $25,000 and has come into compliance with lead paint laws. For the full text, click here.