Industry News
ALERT: EPA
Announces Delay in Enforcement of Lead Rule
Acknowledging
concerns raised by NLBMDA, its building industry allies and its
supporters in Congress, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
today announced it was delaying enforcement of its Lead Renovation,
Repair and Painting (RRP) Rule, which became effective on April 22,
2010.
EPA has
acknowledged the need for additional time for renovation firms and
workers to become trained and certified under the rule. The
specific delays are:
- Until October
1, 2010, EPA will not take enforcement action for violations of the RRP
Rule's firm certification requirement.
- For
violations of the RRP Rule's renovation worker certification
requirement, EPA will not enforce against individual renovation workers
if the person has applied to enroll in, or has enrolled in, by not later
than September 30, 2010, a certified renovator class to train
contractors in practices necessary for compliance with the final rules. Renovators must complete the training by December 31,
2010.
NLBMDA continues to have numerous concerns with
the overly complex and burdensome RRP Rule, including the removal of
the opt-out provision and the lack of reliable test kits.
The rule could have a severe impact on the remodeling market in
several parts of the country and expose dealers and contactors to
unnecessary liability. In addition, new proposals
from EPA on clearance testing and an expansion of the rule to
commercial construction pose additional challenges for the industry,
which has still yet to recover from the recession.
NLBMDA will continue to seek ways to mitigate
the impact of the rule on the industry.
EPA's announcement can be downloaded here.
For more
information on compliance with the RRP, click here.
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