Lead-Paint Regulations for Remodelers Planned

By Bloomberg, AP and Staff Reports

The EPA said Monday it will propose regulations by the end of the year to limit people’s exposures to lead paint during home remodeling.

Marcus Peacock, deputy administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, told Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., in a letter that EPA staff are working diligently to propose a regulation by Dec. 30.

Obama said Friday that he would block high-level EPA nominations until he received that commitment. In response to EPA’s letter, he removed a senatorial “hold” Monday on President Bush’s nomination of Susan Bodine to become EPA’s assistant administrator for solid waste and emergency response.

“Too many children have needlessly suffered from lead-paint poisoning, and we’ve already waited far too long to take action to protect them,” Obama said.

He cited EPA figures estimating that lead paint from home remodeling makes 28,000 people ill each year.

The agency will propose regulations requiring contractors to use greater care when they tear out ceilings, walls and other fixtures covered with lead-based paint.

Congress in 1992 ordered EPA to develop those regulations by 1996, but the Clinton and Bush administrations never complied.