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IN THIS ISSUE:
On January 29, the Alliance and
more than 75 children’s health, environmental,
and affordable housing advocates issued a joint letter urging
President Bush to support a comprehensive solution to lead
poisoning prevention that includes accountability from paint
manufacturers and the lead industry. Advocates urged President
Bush to affirm the national goal of eliminating childhood
lead poisoning by 2010 by increasing federal resources for
lead safety in high-risk housing, fully enforcing HUD’s
lead safety regulations, expanding enforcement of the lead
hazard disclosure rule, and accepting no less than full participation
from paint companies and the lead industry in making lead-burdened
housing safe. The letter responded to lobbying efforts by
paint companies seeking support from President Bush for voluntary
initiatives. The Alliance is continuing to add signatures
to this statement of principles and recommendations. If you
would like to sign-on to this letter, please e-mail Ralph
Scott at rscott@afhh.org.
President Bush’s budget for next fiscal year proposes
to increase funds for lead hazard control, healthy homes,
and public/private partnerships from $110 million to $126
million. All of this increase is requested for lead hazard
control grants, one of only two HUD programs deemed “effective,”
with Healthy Homes grants and other activities level funded.
The overall request for affordable housing and community development
programs essentially maintains current services, a relief
to affordable housing advocates who feared deep cuts.
We understand that the President’s request for EPA
and CDC lead poisoning prevention programs maintains these
grant programs at current funding levels. Congress will consider
the President’s request and make final decisions on
appropriations levels, hopefully, by October 1 when the fiscal
year starts.
In late January, EPA announced plans to triple its enforcement
activity against suspected violators of the federal lead hazard
disclosure law. EPA plans a significant increase in audits
of the records kept by landlords, property managers, and rental
agents to see whether they have followed disclosure requirements
during real estate transactions. The January 31 New Jersey
Star-Ledger reported that EPA would earmark an additional
$1.25 million to increase the number of audits from 611 during
the last fiscal year to at least 2,000 this coming year. Violators
should be reported to the appropriate EPA regional office
listed at www.epa.gov/lead/leadoff1.htm.
The announcement of stepped-up enforcement comes on the heels
of several recent high-profile settlements involving properties
in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, DC, and
elsewhere, requiring landlords to pay substantial penalties
and to eliminate lead hazards in their properties. On January
16, EPA and HUD announced the largest such settlement yet
under which one of the nation's largest property management
firms, Denver-based Apartment Investment and Management Co.
(AIMCO), will pay a penalty of $129,580 and test and remediate
any lead-based paint hazards found in more than 130,000 apartments
nationwide.
The President’s budget calls EPA environmental education
grants “ineffective” and concludes that this “program
has supported environmental advocacy rather than environmental
education.” The President proposes to terminate EPA
funding of environmental education and to transfer this $7
million to the National Science Foundation for math and science
education. In the past, these EPA funds had supported such
initiatives as Youth Awards, EE-Link, the Environmental Education
and Training Partnership, and small grants to local organizations
across the country. Once again, Congress will make final decisions
in next year’s appropriations.
Rhode Island Attorney General Sheldon Whitehouse has prevailed
in his effort to focus the first phase of the state’s
case against the lead industry on the central claim against
the defendants that lead-based paint in public and private
buildings constitutes a public nuisance. This claim lies at
the heart of Rhode Island’s complaint, and distinguishes
this and other governmental cases from prior litigation by
private individuals against the lead industry. Judge Michael
Silverstein ruled on February 5 that the Court would first
determine whether the presence of lead-based paint in homes
and buildings threatens the health and safety of the state’s
children. If the Court finds that lead-based paint does constitute
a public nuisance, the case will then address the defendants’
responsibility for the nuisance and appropriate remedies.
The judge pointedly rejected the defendants’ gambits
for delay. This ruling makes it likely that the case will
go to trial before the end of this summer. Visit www.riag.state.ri.us/
for more information on the ruling.
During December, four New Jersey counties – Union,
Essex, Gloucester and Cumberland – and twenty cities,
including Newark, Camden and Jersey City, sued lead pigment
manufacturers and the Lead Industries Association for damages
relating to lead-based paint. As in other recent governmental
suits, plaintiffs allege that the lead industry promoted lead-based
paint despite its knowledge that it was harmful; that the
presence of lead-based paint in homes and buildings constitutes
a public nuisance; and that the companies conspired to conceal
the hazards.
HUD has announced the availability of $10 million to pay
for more than 60,000 lead dust clearance tests to help protect
children from the dangers of lead. More than 1,000 communities'
rehab programs can be reimbursed for conducting initial post-work
clearance tests in pre-1978 housing units that are rehabilitated
using funds from HUD's CDBG and HOME programs or receive other
financial assistance from these programs. Reimbursement for
clearance testing is part of HUD's strategy to help communities
comply with the Lead Safety Regulation that went into effect
during the past 18 months. Clearance tests can be performed
by certified sampling technicians, risk assessors, and lead
paint inspectors. More information is available at www.hud.gov/offices/lead.
In January 2002, Maryland's mid-level appeals court ruled
that tenants poisoned by lead-based paint could sue public
housing agencies for their injuries. Baltimore’s Housing
Authority argued that it should have governmental immunity
from lawsuits and that it should not be forced to pay judgments
in lead-based paint cases because its insurance carrier cancelled
its coverage for lead-related damages. The appeals court observed
that allowing the Housing Authority to use its lack of insurance
coverage to avoid lawsuits would set a dangerous precedent
and encourage governmental agencies to allow their insurance
policies to lapse. The court noted that state law grants housing
authorities the right to sue or be sued. The court also ruled
in a separate case that tenants could not sue real estate
agents who broker leases for lead-contaminated homes, since
they do not own the property.
On December 7, 2001, a Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge
dismissed a class action suit brought by owners of single-family
homes in Maryland against the lead industry for damages stemming
from lead-based paint. The judge found that the property owners
had not relied on any false statements made by the defendants.
The Alliance recently released Preventing Childhood Lead
Poisoning Through Code Enforcement: Ten Effective Strategies.
The report describes ways in which code enforcers can address
lead hazards directly and comprehensively (e.g., training
inspectors to identify lead hazards), as well as approaches
that augment the effectiveness of code enforcement generally,
thereby reducing lead hazards by improving housing maintenance
(e.g., periodic inspection programs and targeted enforcement).
The report has been used by advocates in Los Angeles working
to integrate lead safety into code enforcement programs, and
may be useful to others seeking to improve inspection and
enforcement programs in their communities. To obtain a copy,
visit our web site at www.afhh.org,
call 202-543-1147 or e-mail info@afhh.org.
In December 2001, EPA filed its brief in a challenge to
the agency’s lead dust and soil hazard standards brought
by the National Multi Housing Council. The petitioners argue
that EPA lacks the authority to regulate dust and soil contaminated
by sources other than lead-based paint. EPA maintains that
it has authority to regulate lead-contaminated soil and dust
under Title X, regardless of the source of the lead. Title
X’s focus on lead hazards, as opposed to the mere presence
of lead-based paint, supports this position, contends EPA.
In its brief, EPA argues that the petitioners’ interpretation
of the statute would effectively excuse property owners from
disclosing the presence of lead hazards in dust and soil.
Oral argument is set for March 19, 2002.
On January 8, eight former and current residents of Idaho’s
Silver Valley filed a lawsuit against local mining companies
and one railroad company seeking damages for medical costs
and environmental clean-up of lead, arsenic, and other environmental
toxins. Defendants include Asarco, Coeur d’Alene Mines,
Hecla Mining, Sunshine Mining Company and Union Pacific Railroad.
Deemed one of the worst areas of toxic contamination in the
Pacific Northwest, EPA last year launched a 20- to 30-year
environmental cleanup in Silver Valley estimated to cost $359
million. Lawyers representing the residents are seeking to
expand this case as a class action suit.
Residents of the town of Herculaneum, MO will evacuate their
homes while they are cleaned of lead contamination. EPA Region
7 has ordered Doe Run Co. to temporarily relocate households
with pregnant women, children under 6, and other sensitive
populations whose homes and yards have been contaminated with
lead from a smelter owned and operated by the company. EPA
has ordered Doe Run Co. to accelerate their clean-up of lead-burdened
properties so that families can return to their homes. In
addition, Doe Run will make over $10 million in air quality
modifications to the smelter. To read an EPA press release
on this consent order, visit www.epa.gov/region7/news_events/newsreleases/.
Maurci Jackson, lead poisoning prevention parent/activist,
died on January 8 at age 40. Motivated by the personal tragedy
of her daughters’ lead poisoning, Ms. Jackson worked
to prevent this tragedy for other children. Her passion, dedication,
and commitment inspired scores of other parents and advocates
to action. Ms. Jackson founded the Chicago Parents Against
Lead, and co-founded the national United Parents Against Lead.
A fund has been established to pay tribute to Ms. Jackson’s
work on behalf of lead poisoned children and to secure the
future of her family. To contribute to this fund, please send
your donation made payable to the “Alliance To End Childhood
Lead Poisoning” at 227 Massachusetts Avenue, NE, Suite
200, Washington, DC 20002. Please note “Maurci Jackson
Family Fund” on your donation.
John O'Connor, a Boston environmental activist, community
organizer, and champion of racial and social justice, died
at age 46 on November 30, 2001. O'Connor combined community
organizing and strategic research to emphasize environmentalism
as an urban issue affecting vulnerable low-income communities.
He founded the National Toxics Campaign, which mobilized people
across the country on grassroots toxics campaigns and helped
to secure $8 billion in federal appropriations for Superfund
in the mid-1980s. O’Connor’s concern about lead
poisoning led him to write "Get the Lead Out," one
of the most valuable resources for lead poisoning prevention
advocates. He will be missed, but his legacy of community
organizing lives on.
Alliance board member Cushing Dolbeare, tireless advocate
for safe and affordable housing for low-income families, just
received the 8th annual Heinz Award in the Human Condition
category, which carries a $250,000 award. For more than five
decades, Ms. Dolbeare has been a champion for affordable housing
and social justice. In 1974, she founded the National Low
Income Housing Coalition – a public interest organization
dedicated to ending America’s affordable housing crisis.
Ms. Dolbeare’s housing policy analysis and advocacy
continues to inspire the movement.
The National Center for Lead-Safe Housing recently changed
its name to the National Center for Healthy Housing to reflect
its broadened mission to develop and test cost-effective approaches
to assessing and controlling a wide range of residential environmental
hazards in addition to lead. In many cases, environmental
health hazards in housing are related in both cause and solution.
The Center believes its experience in preventing and controlling
lead-based paint hazards is transferable to other hazards,
such as asthma-causing allergens, carbon monoxide, pesticides,
and hazards that contribute to unintentional injuries. For
more information, visit the Center's new website at www.centerforhealthyhousing.org.
A 2001 addendum to the Children’s Health Under Medicaid:
A National Review of Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis
and Treatment is available from the National Health Law Program
(NHeLP). This chartbook presents data for fiscal years 1997
and 1998 on the state of children’s health under Medicaid’s
Early Periodic Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment (EPSDT)
program and supplements their 1998 report. Contact NHeLP at
310-204-6010 or nhelp@healthlaw.org
to purchase a copy for $15 with past or current purchase of
the 1998 chartbook ($35). The stand-alone report is available
for $25. NHeLP recommends having both copies of the book as
this version supplements, rather than replaces, the 1998 report.
**For information on the Alliance’s international programs
and worldwide prevention activities, please visit our Global
Lead Network website at www.globalleadnet.org**
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