AGC Joins Coalition in Comments to EPA on Lead Paint Proposal

On December 6, 2010, 15 real estate and construction organizations, including AGC of America, sent comments to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) urging the agency to obtain more data before proceeding with potential new regulations covering lead dust in public and commercial buildings.  The letter was submitted in conjunction with a hearing by EPA’s Science Advisory Board (SAB) into the scientific bases for new lead paint regulations. “As EPA itself has noted . . . the development of lead hazard standards for public and commercial buildings is fraught with uncertainty due to the minimal data that are available regarding the prevalence of lead dust in these types of buildings and other factors that are critical to the development of a reasonable standard,” the coalition wrote.  To date, EPA has still not followed through on Congressional directives (under the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976) to conduct such studies in the commercial buildings context. It is expected that the advisory board will recommend that EPA proceed from a precautionary principle — i.e., out of an excessive abundance of caution to sensitive groups, it should develop new regulations, even though it lacks scientific data on actual lead paint hazards in commercial buildings.  The panel also appears to place the burden on the commercial real estate sector to prove that its buildings are safe — rather than requiring EPA to prove lead-paint hazards in such buildings. AGC staff and the AGC Environmental Network Steering Committee met with the EPA staff person who is drafting the lead paint rule on December 9.  AGC shared its concerns with the proposal and expressed its desire to continue to have an open dialogue with EPA and work with them as they move forward with this rulemaking. For further background on this issue please click here. For any questions, please contact Leah Pilconis at pilconisl@agc.org.