ABC Aug. 6 filed comments with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) urging it to reconsider expanding the Lead-Safe Renovation and Repair Painting (RRP) program for target housing and child-occupied facilities to include dust-wipe testing after renovations are completed.

The original RRP  rule, which went into effect in April, mandates that contractors performing renovation, repair and painting projects that disturb more than six feet of lead-based paint in most pre-1978 homes, child care facilities and schools must be certified and follow specific work practices to prevent lead poisoning.   EPA April 23 announced the expansion of the program to include a requirement that contractors perform dust-wipe testing after renovations are completed and provide the results of the test to owners and occupants of the building.  The proposal also would require that lead dust levels on certain renovations be below regulatory hazard standards. 

In its comments, ABC cautioned the agency that it only has the authority to issue guidelines for work practice standards, but not the authority to impose regulatory requirements concerning those practices. In addition, ABC noted that EPA has not established that renovation activities even create lead-based paint hazards and that generally, most RRP activities eliminate or reduce the potential for hazards. 

ABC also pointed out that the expansion of the rule eliminates the distinction between activities that seek to abate lead paint hazards and those whose main purpose is to renovate.  Blurring the distinction between activities imposes a liability on renovation contractors to remedy pre-existing conditions.  ABC warned that imposing those liabilities on renovations and repairs will actually undermine EPA’s stated goal of minimizing the risk of lead-based paint by making the activities more expensive and passing those costs along to homeowners who will be more likely to forego renovations or repairs that would remove potentially hazardous areas of lead paint.

“The unintended consequence of the imposition of dust wipe testing an clearance testing requirements on professional renovators will be that more children and other people will be placed at risk for lead poisoning due to deteriorating homes,” ABC stated in its comments.

In addition, ABC pointed out that the study EPA used to justify the proposed expansion of the rule is flawed and that it has not convened a Small Business Advocacy Review Panel consistent with the Regulatory Flexibility Act to determine the economic impact on the substantial number of small entities that would be affected by the rule.  

For more information on the RRP program, visit EPA’s website.