Redo saftey rules now!
THE ENVIRONMENTAL Protection Agency wanted another six years to revise standards meant to protect children from lead paint, but af ederal appeals court ruled on Wednesday that they have three months. The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals agreed with a group of environmental groups that the EPA was taking too long to act on a 2009 petition calling for the updating federal standards regarding lead paint and dust. The Sierra Club and a host of other environmental groups filed the lawsuit seven years after the EPA recognized that its existing standards failed to adequately protect public health. The EPA in turn admitted that new rules were needed, but dragged its feet on moving forward any meaningful rewrite of standards. While the federal government banned lead-based paint in 1978, it is still present in an estimated 37 million older homes across the country. It is the primary source of childhood lead poisoning, and has been a major issue in New York. A Daily News investigation published Dec. 1 revealed that from 2013 through 2015, the New York City Housing Authority placed hundreds of families into apartments the agency knew contained lead paint without warning them of the potential harm to their children. The EPA told the court that it would take at least another six years to come up with new rules regulating the toxic paint. “EPA fails to identify a single case where a court has upheld an eight year delay as reasonable, let alone a 14-year delay, if we take into account the six more years EPA asserts it needs to take action,” wrote Judge Mary Schroeder. Schroeder and the other judges ordered the agency to ready new rules within 90 days and have them finalized within a year. “Lead exposure remains a significant health threat to children, and EPA will continue to work diligently on a number of fronts to address issues surrounding childhood lead exposure from multiple sources,” a spokesperson for the agency said, adding that the EPA is reviewing the court’s decision.