A change in the lead dust hazard standard from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would add markedly to the cost and time required to remodel homes built before 1978, according to NAHB.

In May, the EPA proposed an amendment to its Lead: Renovation, Repair and Painting rule that would require remodelers to send dust samples to a laboratory for lead testing and would expand the sampling to areas of the home outside of the remodeled area. Now, the EPA is looking to change the standard for sampling. A lowered lead dust standard by the agency would impose an even stricter requirement on remodeleers for completing a project.

The agency’s lead rule for renovation, repair and painting includes requirements for training, certification, recordkeeping, work practices and cleaning verification.

In Dec. 6 testimony before a scientific advisory panel that is assisting the EPA with assessing the standard, Matthew Watkins, an NAHB environmental policy analyst, said that the agency’s lowering the standard would further increase the compliance costs and record-keeping burdens of the lead rule.

The EPA is basing its research on lowering the standard on blood lead levels that are significantly lower than the current Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s action level of 10 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood.

“Adding an unrealistic hazard standard could increase the cost of cleaning up after a remodel to a level that is so prohibitively expensive that only the wealthiest families could even consider remodeling their home,” Watkins said. “The EPA’s proposed dust hazard standard would put the cost of lead mitigation beyond the means of many families, especially lower-income households, where it is desperately needed, and it would have the effect of stifling investment — including energy efficiency upgrades — that families want to make in their homes.”

EPA’s Lead; Renovation Repair and Painting rule took effect earlier this year on April 22. Since then, the EPA has amended the rule by removing a provision that allowed families to opt out of the rule’s requirements if there were no children under age six or pregnant women living in the home.

For information on the lead rule, visit www.nahb.org/leadpaint.

For more information, e-mail Matt Watkins, or call him at 800-368-5242 x8327.