December 20, 2010
Nation's Building News

The Official Online Newspaper of NAHB

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Environment
NAHB Asks Senate Panel to Address EPA's Lead Paint 'Regulatory Nightmare'

In recent comments delivered to the U.S. Senate Small Business Committee, NAHB told congressional leaders that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's lead paint regulations for remodeling jobs in homes built before 1978 urgently need to be fixed.

“During a time when unemployment tops 21% in the construction industry, heavily dominated by small businesses, it is inconceivable that the EPA has subverted nearly every possible tool that remodelers have to help ensure their compliance with something as important as the Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) rule," the comments said. "The EPA is redesigning the RRP into a regulatory nightmare that will essentially discourage critical efficiency upgrades and increase costs for older homes.”

NAHB asked the committee to:

  • Join the association in opposing the upcoming clearance testing proposal
  • Require the EPA to undertake a rulemaking and new economic analysis to demonstrate the full cost of compliance now that there is no qualifying test kit available
  • Restore the "opt out" provision for home owners without small children

These changes, NAHB said, would allow small business members to “return to work and help consumers save energy and improve the value and efficiency of their largest store of personal wealth: their home.”

For more information, e-mail Elizabeth Odina at NAHB, or call her at 800-368-5242 x8570.

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