Opt Out Provision, Will It Ever Come Back?

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Opt Out Provision, Will It Ever Come Back?

On March 6, 2013 Senator, James Inhof (R-Oklahoma) introduced the ammendment into the United States Senate for “The Lead Exposure Reduction Amendments Act of 2013".  This is not the first time that Senator Inhof has been working on this bill.  In the late winter last year the Senator had introduced the "Lead Exposure Reduction Amendments Act of 2012 (S. 2148)".  When this was introduced it was debated and then sent to committee which usually means it will die there but, the Senator has not allowed that to happen. 

Many contractors have been looking for this widely debated RRP rule from the EPA to be modified and rewritten due to the economic strain that it has put on their businesses due to the added cost to comply with the rule.  The Opt Out Provision stated that if a residential dwelling did not have children residing in the home and their were no pregnant women residing in the home that a waiver could be signed allowing the homeowner to decide if they wanted the LRRP procedures to be carried out during their renovation. 

One of the other arguements within this rule was not only did it protect the people that resided in the home but it also protected the workers that were doing the renovation and stopped them from bringing the toxins into their homes upon return from a job that had lead hazards in it.  Many felt that OSHA had already covered this area and its coverage was more substantial than the RRP rule.

Currently as the rule is written it requires the contractor to test for lead paint in any home that was bult prior to 1978.  If lead is found the contractor must clean up and remove the items that are found to have lead on them from the house using certain guidelines from the EPA.  This also requires the contractor to use special HEPA Lead Dust Vacuums, wear protective clothing, and tarp everything in the work area to eliminate contamination, as well as many other requirements.

If the ammendement was to be passed it would:

• Restore the “opt-out provision” much as we knew it back in 2010 when the RRP rule was put into effect.
• If the EPA cannot approve one or more commercially available lead test kits it would need to suspend the LRRP in homes that do not have small children or pregnant women in them.
• The EPA would not be able to move forward with developing a commercial LRRP program until a study is done proving the need for it.
• Provide an exemption for first-time paperwork violations
• Provides for exemptions when a natural disaster has occured.
• A hands-on recertification requirement would be ended, this would eliminate the need to travel outside of an area just to be recertified.

 The co-sponsors of this amendement are:

• Senators Roy Blunt (R-MO)
• Tom Coburn (R-OK)
• Mike Enzi (R-WY)
• Deb Fischer (R-NE)
• Charles Grassley (R-IO)
• David Vitter (R-LA)

 

We will keep you up to date as we here more on this developing story........