This article originally appeared on Remodeling.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in partnership with the departments of Housing and Urban Development and Health and Human Services, unveiled the Trump Administration's Federal Lead Action Plan to Reduce Childhood Lead Exposures and Associated Health Impacts (Lead Action Plan), the EPA announced in a news release.
EPA acting administration Andrew Wheeler said the plan will enhance efforts to identify and reduce lead contamination while ensuring children impacted by lead exposure receive the necessary support. The EPA will develop an implementation plan by March 2019 to track the progress of the action plan.
The EPA's current Action Plan for Region 8, which includes Montana, Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Utah, Region 6, which includes Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas, and Region 3, which includes Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia, highlight ongoing efforts to address lead exposure by the agency on a more local level. The Action Plan focuses on reducing lead exposure through programs that address various sources, including lead-based paint, drinking water, and soil at contaminated properties.
The current regional Lead Action Plans include outreach, assistance, and enforcement initiative focused on compliance with the EPA's Lead Renovation, Repair, and Painting Rule (RRP) to promote lead-safe renovations and protect vulnerable populations from exposure to lead-based paint hazards.
RRP requires that when remodelers are working in houses built before 1978 on projects that could disturb lead paint, they must determine whether any lead paint is present and—if they do find presence of the paint or didn't do a test—must then use certain practices to contain the spread of the lead paint dust while they perform the remodel. The company doing the work and the renovators following lead-safe work practices both must be certified by EPA-approved training programs.
The proposed federal Lead Action Plan was developed by a task force including 17 federal departments and offices. The goals of the Lead Action Plan are to reduce children's exposure to lead sources, identify lead-exposed children and improve health outcomes, communicate more effectively with stakeholders, and support and conduct research to inform efforts to reduce lead exposures.
