An end to remodels?

[Gaspar]

Home renovations may hit a wall
http://www.tulsaworld.com/site/printerfriendlystory.aspx?articleid=20100413_16_A1_BillSa656599
by: JIM MYERS World Washington Bureau
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
4/13/2010 3:42:22 AM

WASHINGTON — Oklahomans hoping to have older homes remodeled or even worked on could see projects come to a standstill or even be canceled because of a federal rule designed to protect children from lead poisoning.

That's the warning from state homebuilders.

They blame the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for failing to get the word out on a rule that takes effect next week requiring lead-safe practices to be used for renovations of pre-1978 homes, child-care facilities and school buildings.

They also claim the EPA has not even certified one trainer for the entire state of Oklahoma.

An EPA spokesman dismissed such concerns, saying local firms have had two years to get ready for the new rule.

EPA Spokesman Dale Kemery said the Oklahoma Association of Community Action Agencies in Oklahoma City is a training provider based in the state.

But a spokesman for that organization said its trainer has been certified for less than a month.

Communications Director Bob Brandenburg also said no public classes have been offered because the organization has not been licensed by the state of Oklahoma.

The EPA is expected to move forward with the rule despite a petition from the National Association of Home Builders to delay it.

"The impact is going to be substantial,'' said Paul Kane, executive vice president and CEO of the Home Builders Association of Greater Tulsa.

Kane suggested a majority of the contractors do not even know about the new rule.

"That's a problem for everybody,'' he said.

Kane said the new rule applies to all who work on older homes, such as plumbers, electricians, window installers, painters and roofers.

Mike Means, executive vice president of the Oklahoma State Home Builders Association, also faulted the EPA, claiming his organization learned of the new rule only this year.

Means said his organization has been swamped with calls from those wanting to get into one of the classes it has been able to schedule. He described the fine for not complying with the rule as onerous.

According to Kemery, the fine is $37,500 per day per incident.

Homeowners, Kemery said, are exempt from the fine.

"Quite frankly, they have had two years to get this job done,'' he said when asked about concerns of the state groups.

Kemery said the EPA will rely on tips and complaints to enforce the rule. He said those will be passed on to an enforcement office within the agency for possible further action.

Since 2008, Kemery said, the EPA has used mass e-mails and mailings, provided information to trade publications and worked with a large marketing firm to get the word out about the rule.

He blamed any delay on getting certified on "human nature.''

As of Friday, Kemery said 27 renovator training classes have been offered in Oklahoma.

"We estimate there have been 621 renovators trained, and we estimate that by April 22 there will be almost 1,000 trained renovators,'' he said.

The EPA expects more than 125,000 renovation and remodeling contractors nationwide to be trained in lead-safe practices by the time the rule takes effect next week.

That keeps the agency on target to implement the Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule, which requires training to minimize lead exposure.

Despite nearly three decades of efforts to reduce childhood lead exposure, the EPA states, 1 million children in the U.S. are still poisoned by lead paint each year, putting them at risk for certain health problems such as lowered IQs and behavioral disorders.

Lead-contaminated dust from remodeling projects is blamed for at least some of the poisoning.

U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, the top Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, has joined with Sen. David Vitter, R-La., over the past year in writing letters to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson on the matter.

Last month, Inhofe signed another letter with nine other senators to the Office of Management and Budget.

They urged OMB to take whatever steps are necessary to ensure enough certified renovators are available to meet the compliance goals of the rule.

In its request for a delay, the National Association of Home Builders also cited the need for more trainers and complained about inaccurate test kits.

Kane said the kits' false positive rates are unacceptable, adding those rates can be as high as 78 percent.

[Dana431]

Here is the EPA Lead-Safe Certification Program Fact Sheet.

http://www.epa.gov/lead/pubs/lscp-press.htm

The EPA's Frequently asked questions List:

http://toxics.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/toxics.cfg/php/enduser/std_alp.php?p_sid=XODvSYLj&p_lva=&p_li=&p_accessibility=0&p_redirect=&p_page=1&p_cv=&p_pv=2.747&p_prods=716%2C747&p_cats=&p_hidden_prods=&prod_lvl1=716&prod_lvl2=747&p_search_text=&srch_btn_submit=%C2%A0%C2%A0%C2%A0Search%C2%A0%C2%A0%C2%A0&p_new_search=1

NPR had a story saying it is estimated only 5% contractors will be qualified to perform Renovation, Repair, and Painting on pre-1978 structures by the April 22, 2010 deadline.

[Breadburner]

I will enjoy seeing them try to police this......

[buckeye]

Oh, joy.

[waterboy]

I don't give much credibility to the whining by the homebuilders and their associations. There is no excuse for not keeping up with the law in your area of industry. Other industries keep up with current law and regulations. What is it with this generation of whiners and complainers? Everything is the federal gubmnts fault. And why does the state get a pass on this?

This is something the industry might have considered attacking on their own instead of waiting till the EPA had to act.

Hard to enforce? Definitely. Would you rather we just ignore the whole thing? Probably. Any better solutions offered from the home remodelers and the anti-gubmnt crowd? Nada. Oh, well, the effect of a million or so lead exposed children would hardly be noticed here in the south anyway.

[Conan71]

Waterboy, I think the problem everyone has with this is an ever-increasing bevy of regulations for business owners to keep up with.  I don't see this as being a big developer/HBA issue so much as impacting the livelihood of thousands upon thousands of the nation's smallest contractors.  I also believe the EPA has over-played their hand on the lead paint issue.

But everytime I say something like that I see a strange report like this:

WTH?

"Articles Related to This Article:
• Childhood lead exposure linked to increased injuries as teens (press release)

• Study links lead exposure to brain cancer in adults (press release)

• Long-term lead exposure linked to cognitive decline in older adults (press release)

(NaturalNews) Children who are exposed to lead before the age of seven are significantly more likely to be arrested for violent crimes as adults, according to a new study conducted by researchers from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and published in the journal PLoS Medicine.

Researchers used data from 250 women whose levels of lead had been measured while they were pregnant between 1979 and 1984, as well as lead measurements taken of the children up to the age of seven. These measurements were then compared with the Hamilton County, Ohio, adult arrest records of those children.

Fifty-five percent of those studied had been arrested at least once, with an average of five arrests between the ages of 18 and 24.

The researchers found that the higher a person's blood levels at any time in childhood, the more likely they were to have been arrested as adults.

"The strongest association was with violent criminal activity: murder, rape, domestic violence, assault, robbery and possession of weapons," researcher Kim N. Dietrich said.

Lead blood levels varied between four and 37 micrograms per decaliter, with each five microgram per decaliter increase at the age of six leading to a 50 percent rise in the chance of arrest as an adult.

The U.S. government recommends that blood levels of lead remain below 10 micrograms per decaliter. Approximately 310,000 children are believed to have levels above this threshold, however, while health professionals warn that even lower levels can be dangerous.

Lead is a known neurotoxin that can disrupt the development of children's brains.

In a recent study conducted by researchers from the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, people with high levels of lead exposure during childhood were found to have brains an average of 1.2 percent smaller than the average for the general population."

http://www.naturalnews.com/024063_lead_exposure_violent_crime_blood.html

[heironymouspasparagus]

"impacting the livelihood of thousands" of contractors, who specifically are in the business and should be more aware than anyone of the dangers of lead paint.

Republicontin hard at work.  Concern about thousands at the expense of millions.  And a side comment implying that maybe the EPA is overstating the danger of lead.

Highly visible contrast moment right here!

[Conan71]

  Concern about thousands at the expense of millions.

Pretty much the premise of the healthcare bill.

Did you suck on paint chips as a child?

[heironymouspasparagus]

Let me clarify; false concern about thousands of people who already understand the business, have been notified for years about pending regulations, and have dragged their feet in complete obliviousness (had to throw in a little Bush-ism there) of reality, trying to save these same professionals a few hundred dollars by allowing millions to ingest and be affected by poison.

This sounds like the Bush rationalization for relaxing the requirements of arsenic in the water and exhaust from coal fired plants.  There is a pattern here....


Absolutely!  Who didn't as a child?  Chewed on many a window sill and kitchen implement handle.  Red was the color of choice.  Lead paint is a sweet satisfying snack enjoyed by millions until those "evil" people at the EPA intruded on MY RIGHTS to enjoy the snack of my choice!  Travesty!!  Unwarranted government intrusion into my private life!!
(Wow!  How much does THAT sound like a smoker's argument against prohibitions of smoking in public places??)