A federal court is ordering the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to propose a new rule on hazardous lead levels in paint and household dust within the next 90 days — not the six years proposed by the Trump administration.
While lead paint was banned in the United States 40 years ago, older coatings remain on the walls and ceilings of many of the nation’s homes, where it can be breathed in and endanger children’s development.
The new expedited order “is going to protect the brains of thousands of children across the country,” Eve Gartner, a staff attorney for Earthjustice, told The New York Times. Earthjustice helped argue the case for organizations that support tougher standards.
“It’s going to mean that children that otherwise would have developed very elevated blood lead levels will be protected from the damage associated with that, assuming EPA follows the court order,” she said.
The new 2-to-1 decision came from the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco. Already, the Obama administration had proposed its own six-year delay on revisions to lead paint rules, a move the court had called unreasonable.
“Indeed EPA itself has acknowledged that ‘ lead poisoning is the number one environmental health threat in the U.S. for children ages 6 and younger,’ and that the current standards are insufficient,” the ruling said, adding, “The children exposed to lead poisoning due to the failure of EPA to act are severely prejudiced by EPA’s delay.”
An agency spokesman said the EPA is reviewing the court’s decision, and would not say if the agency planned to appeal or seek review with the Supreme Court.
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