Agency finally recognizes that exposure to lead at any level is hazardous

Eve Gartner, Managing Attorney, Toxic Exposure and Health Program, Earthjustice: “Communities around the country are suffering lead exposure from soil because EPA has dropped the ball for decades.”

Public Comment Draft: EPA Strategy to Reduce Lead Exposures and Disparities in U.S. Communities

As children across the country are drinking and breathing lead, EPA must take concrete steps

Tell the government we need bold solutions to protect millions of people from lead.

Community advocacy and environmental organizations, represented by Earthjustice, successfully sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2019 for failing to establish protective lead hazard standards for older housing and child-occupied facilities like schools and daycares. The EPA’s definition, which was set in 1992, was more than 55 times less protective than the definition used by…

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the Environtmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reconsider its 2019 hazard standard for lead in dust from deteriorating lead paint, which would tolerate exposure to dangerous levels of lead and to update its long-outdated hazard standards for lead in soil. It also ordered EPA to update its definition of what constitutes lead-based paint. EPA’s current definition, which was set in 1992, is more than 55 times less protective than the definition used by the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

9th Circuit rules EPA lead standards are weak and illegal

The lead hazard standards updated in June 2019 determine whether lead in homes, child-care facilities, and surrounding soil poses a risk. But the standards the Trump administration unveiled are too lax to protect families. The lawsuit was filed in the 9th Circuit on behalf of A Community Voice, California Communities Against Toxics, Healthy Homes Collaborative, New Jersey Citizen Action, New York City Coalition to End Lead Poisoning, WE ACT for Environmental Justice, the Sierra Club, and United Parents Against Lead.

Community organizations sued Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency for failing to establish protective lead hazard standards for older housing and child-occupied facilities, such as schools and daycares. The lead hazard standards updated in June 2019 determine whether lead in homes, child-care facilities, and surrounding soil poses a risk. But the standards the Trump administration unveiled are too lax to protect families. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of A Community Voice, California Communities Against Toxics, Healthy Homes Collaborative, New Jersey Citizen Action, New York City Coalition to End Lead Poisoning, WE ACT for Environmental Justice, the Sierra Club, and United Parents Against Lead.

No level of lead exposure is safe for children

Ningún nivel de exposición al plomo es seguro para los niños y niñas

Comments submitted on behalf of citizens’ groups explaining the many significant flaws in the agency’s proposal to update the lead-dust hazard standard.

Letter submitted to EPA by individuals and organizations including Environmental Defense Fund, WeACT, National Disability Rights Network, and NRDC.

Stronger lead standards, prompted by Earthjustice litigation, will better protect thousands of children nationwide.

Public comments on the EPA’s proposed update to the dust-lead hazard standard urge the agency to adopt a more protective rule.

For years, the EPA has dragged its heels on strengthening lead standards. Thanks to a court order and Earthjustice litigation, it now has 90 days.

The panel granted a petition for writ of mandamus brought by environmental groups seeking to compel the United States Environmental Protection Agency to act upon a rulemaking petition it granted years ago concerning dust-lead hazard and lead-paint standards.