The EPA recently announced it finalized stronger requirements for identifying and cleaning up lead paint dust in pre-1978 homes and childcare facilities.

 

“There is no safe level of lead exposure, particularly for children. In children, lead can severely harm mental and physical development, slow down learning, and irreversibly damage the brain,” states an EPA news release. “In adults, lead can cause increased blood pressure, heart disease, decreased kidney function, and may cause cancer. If someone is impacted by lead exposure, there is no known antidote, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).”

This final rule reduces the level of lead in dust the EPA considers hazardous to any reportable level measured by an EPA-recognized laboratory. The rule also lowers the amount of lead that can remain in dust on floors, windowsills, and window troughs after a lead paint abatement occurs to the levels listed below, the lowest levels that can be reliably and quickly measured in laboratories. The rule strengthens the standards from:

• 10 micrograms per square foot (µg/ft2) to 5 µg/ft2 for floors
• 100 µg/ft2 to 40 µg/ft2 for windowsills
• 400 µg/ft2 to 100 µg/ft2 for window troughs

“These levels reflect standards implemented by New York City in 2021. The new standards will better protect children and communities from the harmful effects resulting from exposure to dust generated from lead paint,” according to the release.

A decision in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the EPA’s previous updates to its lead paint hazard standards were lacking because the Agency “improperly took into account factors other than health,” notes law firm Holland & Knight.

“During the rulemaking process, various commentors in the public heath arena applauded these new, more stringent standards as important to better protecting children from lead exposure,” Holland & Knight continues. “At the same time, others in the rental industry, and those actively working as lead risk assessors and as abatement designers, offered commentary in opposition to the rule, expressing concern that lower permissible dust levels will be increasingly difficult to achieve, even by experienced lead abatement contractors, and that the resulting increased cost of such work will further reduce the incentive for homeowners and landlords for conducting such abatement work in the first place.”

The final rule will significantly impact lead-based paint (LBP) abatement work and is expected to increase the number of LBP hazard disclosures under the disclosure rule.

It’s important to note that the final rule doesn’t impact work performed under the EPA Renovation, Repair, and Painting (RRP) Rule, which doesn’t “require dust-lead sampling prior to or at the conclusion of a renovation and will not be affected by a change to the lead reporting or action levels,” Holland & Knight advises.

The final rule also:

• Revises the definition of a “child” to a person “under age 6” rather than “6 years of age and under,”
• Expands the definition of “target housing” to include a zero-bedroom dwelling where a child resides, and
• Adds the word “known” to the Disclosure Rule Warning Statement in the regulation at 40 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 745.113(b)(1).