The Environmental Protection Agency announced its Lead Paint: Renovation, Repair and Painting rule – designed to reduce human exposure to lead-paint dust and chips during renovation activities – on April 22, 2008, and its enforcement date was set for exactly two years later.

The two-year lead-in was expected to be long enough to implement a large-scale training and lead-safe certification program for remodelers and installers of any sort who might be disturbing paint in homes built before 1978, when the ban on lead paint began. The EPA estimated that as many as 200,000 people could be certified in that 24 months. Problem is, so far only about 50,000 certifications have been awarded, although another 50,000 are expected to be on record by April 22, an agency official told USA Today’s Green House. The main reason for the lag, say industry groups such as the American Architectural Manufacturers Association and the NAHB Remoders, is that only about 135 training providers have been EPA-approved so far – not enough to meet demand either by remodelers or their prospective clients.

A plea for time and trainers

So now the industry groups are asking the EPA to extend the enforcement deadline and retain, for at least a while longer, an opt-out provision that allows noncompliance with the agency’s Lead Safe Work Practices regulation in homes whose occupants do not include pregnant women or children aged 6 or younger. The regulation would otherwise apply to work that disturbs more than 6 sq. ft. of a home’s interior.

Earlier this week, for example, representatives of the AAMA and other industry groups met with officials from the EPA as well as the White House’s Office of Management and Budget and its Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, noted Glass Magazine, a flat-glass-and-metals-industry publication, which cited a March 17 AAMA press release. White House officials were attentive to industry concerns, according to AAMA’s president and CEO, Rich Walker.

“The eight government officials from EPA, the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs we met with today were receptive to industry feedback and agreed that the time frame is extremely short in order to take action and ensure that the guidelines are feasible,” Walker said in the release.

The Home Star factor

But Walker also noted that, in addition to certification concerns, other forces are at work that could combine to both motivate and worry remodelers – including the AAMA’s constituency of window dealers and installers – if business improves under federal incentive programs such as Home Star. Even if the EPA extends its compliance deadline and certification rates climb appropriately, Walker points out, many dealers and installers may end up paying substantially higher insurance premiums to address potential litigation associated with their work, since much of it likely will focus on very energy-inefficient homes built before 1978.

By some estimates, those higher operating costs could raise the price of a window installation by $60 to $100 per window, Walker added.

Meanwhile, in the ramp-up to whatever enforcement deadline the EPA declares, contractors have been asked to follow common-sense procedures when doing remodeling of any sort: contain the work area, minimize dust, clean up thoroughly.