EPA may abandon proposed rules protecting urban children from lead paint

[G_j]

http://www.commondreams.org/news2005/0412-05.htm

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
APRIL 12, 2005
10:36 AM
CONTACT: Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility
Chas Offutt, 202-265-7337

Attorney Generals Protest EPA Lead Paint Reversal by Johnson; Eliot Spitzer and Lisa Madigan Call for Action on Lead-Safe Remodeling Rule

WASHINGTON -- April 12 -- Two state attorney generals are publicly objecting to the decision by Acting Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Stephen Johnson to abandon proposed rules protecting urban children and residential construction workers from the hazards of lead-based paint, according to letters released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). In an unannounced move last year, Johnson, who has been nominated by President Bush to become EPA Administrator, scrapped long-stalled requirements that certified contractors using workers trained in lead-safe practices do all remodeling in buildings constructed before 1978.

In an April 7, 2005 letter, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer stated, “EPA’s failure to issue lead-safe renovation regulations is a breach of the public trust and presents a significant and avoidable threat to tenants and homeowners throughout the nation.” Spitzer noted that New York has the nation’s highest number and percentage of older homes and its children have unhealthful levels of lead in their blood at twice the national average, with some areas exhibiting childhood “lead poisoning rates as high as 20%.”

The principal source of lead dust exposure to U.S. children is renovation and repair of older residences, which have a much higher prevalence of lead-based paint. Federal studies indicate that the vast majority of an estimated 20 to 30 million older-home repair projects each year are done without lead-safe cleanup and contamination practices. Consequently, these renovations kick up significant amounts of lead dust that permeates carpets, ductwork and soil, creating both short and long-term exposure to residents.

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan wrote in an April 5, 2005 letter, “Each year Illinois reports the highest number of lead poisoned children in the nation.” She called upon Johnson to make a “personal commitment to ensure that EPA undertakes” the long overdue renovation safeguards and warned, “Unless EPA’s leadership is restored, the 2010 goal of protecting all children from lead poisoning will remain beyond reach.”

Under the Toxic Substances Control Act, the deadline for EPA to adopt regulations governing “renovation or remodeling activities” was October 28, 1996. Although behind schedule, EPA continued to develop regulations through 2003. In 2004, Johnson, disregarding his own legal counsel’s advice, completely dropped plans for renovation regulations in favor of a yet to be developed voluntary approach.

“Lead will be a litmus test for whether Stephen Johnson will be a decent EPA Administrator,” stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch whose organization last month disclosed internal agency documents outlining Johnson’s role in the behind-closed-doors decision. “If EPA continues to shirk its legal and public health obligations, the agency will be forced by litigation to do what they should have done in 1996.”

Read the letter from New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer
http://www.peer.org/docs/epa/05_12_4_spitzerltr.pdf

View the letter from Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan
http://www.peer.org/docs/epa/05_12_5_madiganltr.pdf

Learn more about the importance of the abandoned lead-safe regulations
http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=493

###

[whistle]

1. Bush must feel urban children are no longer worth saving.....

[gollygee]

6. Once they leave the womb

his interest fades.

[Crunchy Frog]

2. I think they're just happier if alot of Americans

are too brain damaged to know what's going on.

They really seem to want to raise up a generation of morons, whether it's through lead poisoning of children, or destruction of the educational system. It all leads to a more tractible population that is easier to manipulate and control.

And anyway, if they're not in someone's uterus, they're not really that important anyway.:sarcasm:

[G_j]

4. easier to believe

Iraq was behind 9/11
The earth is really only 6000 years old.
Jesus loves war.
Bush is an honest man.

:shrug:

[sweetheart]

3. If they'd only water down the mercury laws as well...

then the legal brain rotting will exceed any illegal drugs by orders
of magnitude.... how perverse.

I remember in my youth, rolling a ball of mercury around in my hands,
as it is really cool stuff, cold, yet liquid and kinda fun to play
with. I guess that was before we discovered it is one of the most
toxic substances around.

Perhaps they'll relax the laws on public uranium and plutonium as well,
as geez, plutonium would make great silverware for schools, and geez,
where are all those uranium hair pins when you need one.

[G_j]

5. =

don't give 'em any ideas.. :eyes:

[BiggJawn]

7. Kids who eat Lead Paint grow up to vote ReTHUGlican.

Has to do with being "Brain Damaged", I think...

[G_j]

8. Lobbying Nets Group of Companies Tens of Billions from Asbestos Bill

PUBLIC CITIZEN PRESS RELEASE May 10, 2005

Major Lobbying Campaign Nets Small Group of Companies
Tens of Billions of Dollars from Senate's Asbestos Bill, Report Finds

Financial Investment Firms Spend Millions to Win Preferred Positions;
Jockeying for Advantage by Companies Will Sharply Limit Aid to Victims

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Under the guise of providing aid to victims of
asbestos-related illnesses, a small group of companies has lobbied for
and won relief from their liability worth tens of billions of dollars in
the Senate's asbestos trust fund bill, according to a new Public Citizen
report.

Their success in protecting their corporate interests, however, will
sharply reduce the funds under the legislation that will be available to
asbestos victims, the report finds. Meanwhile, some of the nation's
largest financial investment firms have spent millions of dollars in
lobbying and campaign contributions to position themselves to score big
rewards should the legislation pass.

"The Senate legislation that began as a good-faith effort to help the
thousands of victims of asbestos has turned into a carnival of greed by
some of America's biggest corporate interests,' said Joan Claybrook,
president of Public Citizen.

The Public Citizen asbestos report is available online at
http://www.citizen.org/asbestos

The full press release is available at
http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/release.cfm?ID=1941

------------------------------------------------------------
For more information about this, and the other issues Public
Citizen works on, please visit our website at
http://www.citizen.org/

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

9. Republican family values