EPA Starts Lead Paint Safety Education Effort in Portsmouth

PORTSMOUTH, NH - The EPA's New England regional office announced it would start a campaign to promote lead paint safety by alerting area contractors, property managers and landlords in the Portsmouth, N.H. and Portland, Maine area.

According to anEPA release, the agency will also tighten up compliance of the Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) Rule under the Toxic Substances Control Act, which became effective in April 2010.

"Reducing exposure to lead is a top priority for EPA under Administrator Pruitt's leadership," said Alexandra Dunn, regional administrator of EPA's New England office. "This place-based initiative is a focused effort with our state and local counterparts aiming to reduce lead exposure in the Maine and New Hampshire seacoast areas, where there is a large amount of older housing stock that hasn't been renovated and lead paint has not been removed."

EPA officials met with stakeholders and local governments in both Portsmouth, N.H. and Portland, Maine at the end of April.

There will be continued outreach efforts in May, according to the release.

Additionally, over the course of several weeks in June and July, EPA will conduct inspections of renovation, painting and property management companies in the area to assess compliance with the RRP Rule.

EPA continues to prioritize resources at both the national and regional level to educate companies and inform the public about federal lead paint rules. EPA's RRP Rule is designed to prevent children's exposure to lead-based paint and/or lead-based paint hazards resulting from renovation, repair and painting projects in pre-1978 residences, schools and other buildings where children are present.

Infants and children are especially vulnerable to lead paint exposure, which can cause lifelong impacts including developmental impairment, learning disabilities, impaired hearing, reduced attention span, hyperactivity and behavioral problems. Because New England has a lot of older housing stock, lead paint is still frequently present in buildings that were built before 1978, when lead paint was banned.

EPA engaged in similar efforts in the New Haven, Conn. area in 2014; in the Nashua, N.H. area in 2015, and in the Lewiston/Auburn, Maine area in 2016. As a result of these efforts, EPA has educated thousands of individuals either engaged in this type of work or impacted by it, settled numerous formal and informal enforcement actions, and levied fines against the most serious violators.

Courtesy Photo / EPA