According to a letter from several minority representatives to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson, EPA has decided to stop work on a regulation to protect children and construction workers against lead poisoning from building renovation and remodeling. Instead the agency plans to allow construction companies to voluntarily comply with standards.

Lead is a known neurotoxin that particular harms children. Renovation and remodeling, which can release lead-based paint chips or dust into the air, is one of the largest sources of lead exposure. Under the Toxic Substances and Control Act, EPA is required to promulgate rules to protect children, families and construction workers from home exposure to lead. EPA may be breaking the law by failing issue this important regulatory protection. Rep. Henry Waxman and Sen. Barbara Boxer have written a letter to Johnson asking for an explanation of EPA's apparent abandonment of this regulation and encouraging EPA to resume the rulemaking. From the letter:

A briefing paper entitled "U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Lead Safety Program Voluntary Initiative, Briefing for the Deputy Administrator, May 19, 2004," reveals that [Johnson was] presented with a choice as to whether to complete the rule or to pursue an alternative approach. The alternative was a plan to merely encourage lead-safe remodeling and renovation practices through a voluntary, collaborative program for contractors engaged in remodeling and renovation in housing with lead paint. This alternative would begin with a pilot program that would involve a small number of contractors in just two cities.

After this briefing, EPA apparently stopped work on the rule in favor of the voluntary approach. EPA's next regulatory agenda, published in June 2004, dropped the renovation and remodeling rule and added a "Voluntary Program for Renovation and Remodeling." EPA's fall 2004 regulatory plan states, "As an alternative to the regulatory program, EPA is working with stakeholder to develop a voluntary program for renovations and remodeling activities." The voluntary program was supposed to "partner the Agency and national organizations together to promote an initiative which could provide incentives to participating contractors and property owners who incorporate lead safe work practices into their standard operating procedures."

Unlike a regulation which can be enforced by EPA and applies across the board, voluntary guidelines let construction companies who fail to comply off the hook. More from the letter:

In addition to violating the requirements of the law, a voluntary approach will fail to protect children from the health effects of lead. A voluntary approach is unenforceable, is unlikely to be effective, would take years to implement, and requires substantial new funding that is simply not provided for in EPA's budget.

EPA has identified lead safe work practices that will greatly reduce exposures. Under a voluntary approach, there would be no requirement to use these practices and no ability to enforce them. Given the serious and ongoing threats to children from lead poisoning in renovated homes, taking minimal protective actions should not be optional. This is why Congress required EPA to promulgate regulations to address this problem.

Protecting children's health is not a voluntary matter. Email Stephen Johnson and tell him how you feel about EPA's abandonment of this regulatory protection of childhood lead-poisoning.