EPA has 90 days to update lead regulations after activists score major victory in federal court

https://thinkprogress.org/epa-has-90-days-to-update-lead-regulations-after-activists-score-major-victory-in-federal-court-f51e30b206e3/

EPA has 90 days to update lead regulations after activists score major victory in federal court
The decision is far-reaching and will help protect children from continued exposure to the neurotoxin,
Yvette Cabrera
Dec 28, 2017, 12:57 pm


A federal appeals court in San Francisco on Wednesday ordered the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to swiftly update antiquated federal lead regulations, a major victory for advocates who charged that the agency had for years failed to make its standards stringent enough to protect children from the harmful neurotoxin.

In mandating that the EPA move quickly to issue the new rules to strengthen outdated lead hazard standards, the court cited the agency’s own conclusion that “lead poisoning is the number one environmental health threat in the U.S. for children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 children exposed to lead poisoning due to the failure of EPA to act are severely prejudiced by EPA’s delay,” wrote Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Mary M. Schroeder, for the majority in the 2-to-1 decision.

The regulations define the standards for what’s considered a dust-lead hazard and also what qualifies as lead-based paint, and in both cases, the EPA’s standards fall far short of protecting human health, according to Earthjustice, the environmental law organization that filed the lawsuit last year against the EPA on behalf of eight organizations across the country.

Earthjustice litigator Eve Gartner, one of the attorneys who represented the organizations in the lawsuit, described the ruling as a critical piece of the puzzle for protecting children from levels of lead that will damage the development of their brains. Gartner oversees efforts to protect people from toxic chemicals as part of Earthjustice’s Healthy Communities Program.

“Hundreds of thousands of children in this country have elevated blood lead levels, and are suffering the consequences in lost IQ points, and lost ability to fulfill their potential,” wrote Gartner in an email to ThinkProgress. “Changing the hazard standard is a critical first step to protecting children from devastating lead exposures from the lead paint that is still pervasive in older housing across the country, but especially in the Northeast.”

The decision has wide implications because federal agencies such as the Department of Housing and Urban Development as well as states and cities across the country defer to the EPA standards when setting their own lead regulations and policies.

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https://thinkprogress.org/epa-has-90-days-to-update-lead-regulations-after-activists-score-major-victory-in-federal-court-f51e30b206e3/