NAHB has asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to extend the comment period on a proposal that would require remodelers to perform clearance testing to ensure there is no remaining lead paint dust after finishing any work in homes built before 1978.

NAHB requested an extension of between 90 and 120 days beyond the July 6 deadline for comments to better evaluate the rationale for the rule and its impact on how remodelers do their work.

In the meantime, NAHB Remodelers has provided a letter template that members can use to submit their own comments on the rule. “I encourage all our members to tell the EPA exactly why this proposal is not good policy,” said NAHB Remodelers Chair Donna Shirey, a remodeler from Issaquah, Wash.

“This adds even more expense, and that creates an additional disincentive for home owners thinking about hiring a professional remodeler to do work in homes where lead paint is present,” Shirey said. “I can’t see how that gets us any closer to making children safer from the results of lead paint exposure. That’s a tragedy.”

The proposal, NAHB said, represents “a significant departure from the EPA’s long-standing policy of maintaining the statute-based distinction between the activities performed by lead-based paint abatement firms and typical renovation contractors.”

In addition, the proposal is “a dramatic divergence from the requirements of the 2008 Lead: Renovation, Repair and Painting final rule,” in which the EPA wrote that clearance testing was an unnecessary burden to place upon all contractors, the letter pointed out.  

“The agency’s own statements justify a longer public comment period,” the letter said. “This proposal, if adopted by the EPA, would impact all home owners and contractors working or living in the estimated 78 million pre-1978 housing units now subject to the EPA’s lead rule by adding new costs and obligations on the residents of these homes and the contractors who service them.”

NAHB also asked the EPA to reopen the notice and comment process “to allow affected industries and other interested stakeholders to conduct the necessary field research and formally submit it to the docket.”

As remodelers and other contractors struggle to find the required training classes, the letter is the latest attempt in an ongoing effort by NAHB, industry advocates and even members of Congress to bring more clarity to the rule. Among the most recent developments:

• In mid-May, the EPA denied a request from NAHB and the Home Builders Association of Tennessee for flexibility in the rule to speed the recovery of communities in the western portion of the state that were devastated by floods.
  
  
• On May 27, the Senate voted 60 to 37 to pass an amendment to supplemental appropriations bill H.R. 4899 that would prohibit the use of any funding for EPA enforcement actions against contractors that have taken an EPA training course for Lead Safe Work Practices but have yet to be certified, or who have applied to take a course but have not yet completed it by Sept. 30, 2010.
  
  Although largely symbolic, the measure, introduced by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and a bipartisan group of senators, highlights the EPA's inflexibility in working with small contractors who have had difficulty complying with the training and certification requirements as a result of poor implementation by the agency.
  
  
• On May 19, NAHB joined the National Association of Realtors®, the Building Owners and Managers Association International (BOMA) and 13 other organizations to officially petition the government for a 45-day extension of the comment period to extend the rule to commercial buildings.
  
  
• Local jurisdictions are beginning to require proof of certification from remodelers seeking building permits, report home building associations representing members in Joplin, Mo., and Williamsport, Pa. 

As it encourages its members to become trained, accredited and certified, NAHB is also continuing to work with Congress to highlight the problems with the rule. 

Under the current rule, housing and child-occupied facilities built before 1978 are subject to the regulation unless they have been tested and found free of any lead paint. In addition, if the home owner signs a waiver, the remodeler can “opt-out” of the rule, but only until July 6, when that provision will be removed.

Renovations that affect painted surfaces that measure at least 6 square feet (or 20 square feet outside) must be managed by a certified renovator who has completed EPA-accredited training and is employed by an EPA-certified firm.

To be certified, a remodeling firm must complete EPA-accredited training and submit a form and $300.

Renovators must also provide their customers with the EPA’s ”Renovate Right” brochure before starting work, and then follow work practices stipulated by the rule — including containing and controlling the dust, cleaning up after the work, using a wet wipe to confirm the cleaning and maintaining careful records of each job for at least three years.

For more information, e-mail Calli Schmidt at NAHB, or call her at 800-368-5242 x8132; or contact Kelly Mack, x8451.

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