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EPA Restricts Lead Levels

The Associated Press

Published: October 17, 2008

WASHINGTON - Three decades after removing lead from gasoline, the Environmental Protection Agency is slashing the amount of the toxic metal that will be allowed in the nation's air by 90 percent.

EPA officials, who were under a federal court order to set a new health standard for lead by midnight Wednesday, said the new limit would better protect health, especially children's health. Children can inhale lead particles released into the air from smelters, mines and waste incinerators and ingest it after it settles on surfaces.

Exposure to even low levels of lead early in life can affect learning, IQ and memory in children. Lead can also cause cardiovascular, blood pressure and kidney problems in adults.

"Our nation's air is cleaner today than just a generation ago, and last night I built upon this progress by signing the strongest air quality standards for lead in our nation's history," Stephen Johnson, the EPA administrator, said Thursday. "Thanks to this stronger standard, EPA will protect my children from remaining sources of airborne lead."

The new limit - 0.15 micrograms per cubic meter - is the first update to the lead standard since 1978, when it helped phase out leaded gasoline. It is 10 times lower than the old standard, which was 1.5 micrograms per cubic meter.

EPA estimates that 18 counties in a dozen states across the country will violate the new standard, requiring state and local governments to find ways to further reduce lead emissions from smelters, metal mines and other sources.

A representative for the Association of Battery Recyclers said the new standard would be difficult to meet. Several members of the group, which represents 14 facilities that recycle lead from car batteries, met on Oct. 2nd with the White House and EPA. They were hoping for a higher standard.

The limit announced Thursday is in the lower end of a range recommended in May by the agency's independent scientific advisory panel. By contrast, the Bush administration did not follow its own staff's advice or its science advisers when it set new health standards for smog and soot that were less stringent than recommendations.

TOO MUCH LEAD

Eighteen counties in 12 states are in violation of a new standard for airborne lead based on 2005-2007 data. They are:

1. Alabama: Pike County

2. Colorado: Adams County, Denver County

3. Florida: Hillsborough County

4. Illinois: Madison County

5. Indiana: Delaware County

6. Minnesota: Dakota County

7. Missouri: Iron County, Jefferson County

8. New Jersey: Middlesex County

9. Ohio: Cuyahoga County, Fulton County, Logan County

10. Pennsylvania: Beaver County, Berks County, Carbon County