EPA Finalizes Stronger Requirements for Dust-Lead Hazards

A new final rule issued today by EPA strengthens requirements related to identifying and cleaning up dust-lead hazards in homes and childcare facilities built before lead paint was banned in 1978. Under the new rule, any reportable level of lead in dust as analyzed by a laboratory recognized by the agency’s National Lead Laboratory Accreditation Program is considered hazardous. The rule also lowers the amount of lead that can remain in dust on floors, windowsills, and window troughs following abatement to 5 µg/ft2, 40 µg/ft2, and 100 µg/ft2, respectively. EPA describes these new amounts as “the lowest levels that can be reliably and quickly measured in laboratories.”

 

The rule decouples the standard for the reportable level of lead in dust and the amount of lead that can remain in dust after abatement, which the agency historically set to be the same. The pre-publication copy of the new rule (PDF) outlines changes to the terms for these levels: dust-lead hazard standards will now be referred to as “dust-lead reportable levels,” and dust-lead clearance levels will now be described as “dust-lead action levels,” which will be used to determine when EPA recommends abatement work and when abatement can be considered complete.

 

EPA’s new rule also revises the definition of abatement. The agency’s recommendation for action related to lead in dust will now apply “when dust-lead loadings are at or above the action levels, rather than the hazard standards, as has been the case historically.” When dust-lead hazards or lead-based paint are present in an area below the action levels, EPA recommends best practices like using a vacuum with a high-efficiency particulate air filter on items including furniture as well as “regularly cleaning hard surfaces with a damp cloth or sponge and a general all-purpose cleaner.”

 

EPA estimates that the final rule will reduce the lead exposures of up to nearly 1.2 million people per year, including approximately 178,000 to 326,000 children under the age of six. For more information, read the news release on the EPA website or see the agency’s page on the final rulemaking.

 

The EPA recently that U.S. Army Garrison Fort Wainwright will pay $233,300 for violating federal hazardous waste management requirements.

 

During a routine inspection of the garrison in August 2021 EPA inspectors found several violations of the Resources Conservation and Recovery Act including failure to make a hazardous waste determination, storage of hazardous waste without a permit, failure to properly manage pharmaceutical waste, failure to properly manage used oil, and failure to properly manage universal waste such as aerosol cans and lamps.

 

At the time of the inspection, EPA determined the facility was operating as an unpermitted hazardous waste treatment, storage, and disposal facility. Several hazardous wastes were stored improperly, and containers were left open or were stored on-site longer than allowed.

 

In response to the inspection findings, USAG Fort Wainwright agreed to pay the monetary penalty in addition to taking the necessary steps to come into compliance and resolve the violations.

 

“These regulations are in place to protect people and our environment,” said Ed Kowalski, director of EPA Region 10’s Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Division. “It’s vital that facilities handling hazardous waste comply or they put the health of the entire community at risk.”

 

Federal workplace safety investigators have determined that a Temple manufacturer and designer of school furnishings could have prevented an employee's serious and permanent hand and arm injuries by installing required machine guards.

 

Investigators with OSHA learned that in April 2024, while using a garden hose to clean machine rollers at Artco-Bell Corp., the hose became caught in the rollers, pulling the worker's arm into the machine and leading to the worker injury.

 

In addition to failing to ensure the use of machine guards, OSHA inspectors found the company exposed workers to respirable crystalline silica hazards. The agency issued citations for 24 serious safety and health violations and assessed $257,183 in proposed penalties.

 

"An employee suffered painful injuries because Artco-Bell Corp. failed to comply with federal requirements for machine guards," explained OSHA Area Director Monica Camacho in Austin, Texas. "Employers are responsible for ensuring their workers are trained to recognize and address workplace hazards, and that safety information is communicated in languages their employees understand."

 

 

The EPA announced a settlement with Keystone-Conemaugh Projects, LLC (“KEY-CON”) of Blairsville, PA. This settlement commits KEY-CON to ensure that groundwater at its Conemaugh Generating Station (“Conemaugh”) in New Florence, PA is properly monitored and remediated, if necessary, and to pay a civil penalty of penalty of $185,927.

 

The settlement is part of EPA’s National Enforcement and Compliance Initiative, Protecting Communities from Coal Ash Contamination. This Initiative is needed given the breadth and scope of observed noncompliance with the federal coal ash regulations. Coal ash, which is produced from the burning of coal for energy, is a large industrial waste stream (by volume) and contains certain contaminants known to cause cancer and other serious health effects. Prior to 2015, the management and disposal of coal ash was not regulated at the national level; instead, it was regulated to varying degrees, if at all, by some states. Historically, coal ash was typically disposed in unlined landfills and unlined surface impoundments many of which are in contact with groundwater.

 

Without proper containment and management, contaminants from coal ash can pollute waterways, groundwater, drinking water and the air. The additional enforcement resources under EPA’s National Enforcement and Compliance Initiative to address this issue will help protect both water sources, including drinking water, as well as the often-overburdened communities who live near these units.

 

“The Biden-Harris Administration takes seriously the threat to human health and the environment from coal ash contamination, especially in communities historically overburdened by pollution,” said EPA Region 3 Regional Administrator Adam Ortiz. “Our goal is always to bring companies into compliance and ensure that everyone, regardless of zip code, is protected.”

 

Conemaugh is a coal-powered electric generation facility and has disposed of coal ash in four Ash Filter Ponds (surface impoundments). KEY-CON has made improvements at its facility, such as installing geosynthetic liners in its Ash Filter Ponds and adding additional groundwater monitoring wells. If groundwater monitoring reveals contamination above the federal groundwater protection standards, then KEY-CON will be required by regulation to design and implement a corrective action program to address the detected contamination.

 

In the agreement, EPA alleges that KEY-CON did not meet certain requirements under the coal ash program, including:

 

In April 2015, EPA established national rules for coal ash management and disposal to address:

 

Risks from disposal and discharge of coal ash, including leaking of contaminants into groundwater,

blowing of contaminants into the air as dust, and

Catastrophic failure of coal ash surface impoundments.

These rules established a comprehensive set of requirements for the safe handling and disposal of coal ash from coal-fired power plants, including technical requirements for coal ash landfills and surface impoundments.

 

 

The EPA has issued an administrative order to the Puerto Rico Department of Transportation and Public Works (DTPW) requiring them to resolve Clean Water Act violations associated with the municipality’s separate storm sewer systems (MS4) and stormwater management program. DTPW owns and operates several storm sewer systems in Puerto Rico, including those located in PR-123 Road and PR-585 Road at Playa Ward in the Municipality of Ponce.

 

“Stormwater management is crucial for safeguarding people’s health and the environment. It also helps prevent flooding, especially in coastal communities like Barrio Playa,” said Lisa F. Garcia, Region 2 Administrator. “EPA’s enforcement of the Clean Water Act is addressing past issues such as poor management and flooding, and it is also ensuring a safer, healthier future for the residents of Barrio Playa.”

 

EPA has received complaints from the local community about flooding events at PR-123 Road and PR-585 in Ponce Playa. EPA has been inspecting the system since 2022. EPA found that DTPW had not implemented a stormwater management plan that would detect illegal discharges into their storm sewer systems at Ponce Playa. Illegal dumping and connections can result in serious pollutants like car oil and sewage getting into storm sewer systems. The most recent EPA investigation was conducted in August 2024. EPA was joined by officials from DTPW, Municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (PRASA), and Ponce Playa community leaders. The inspection revealed that DTPW’s storm sewer systems lack required operation and maintenance, and unpermitted pollutants are being discharged into the system, to the detriment of the community.

 

The order requires DTPW to take a number of actions, including:

 

The EPA order includes a detailed schedule for the performance of compliance measures that will result in the elimination of illicit discharges into the Caribbean Sea.

 

 

A federal workplace safety investigation has found the operator of three Massachusetts waterproofing contracting companies could have prevented an employee from suffering fatal injuries in February 2024 when part of a foundation broke and fell on the worker in a 5-to-6-foot-deep trench beneath the foundation of a Hanson residence.

 

OSHA found the employer, Aleckssandro Tomaz Pereira of Woburn – operating as Boston Concrete Corp LLC, VMT Contractor LLC and Boston Concrete and Remodeling LLC – exposed employees to cave-in, caught-between and structural collapse hazards by failing to protect the trench and the building foundation against collapse.

 

OSHA investigators determined the employer instructed the worker to enter the unprotected trench to prepare a foundation wall for waterproofing and dig out an area under that wall to install concrete footings.

 

"Aleckssandro Tomaz Pereira should never have placed workers in this trench until the excavation and the building's foundation were guarded against collapse, workers were properly trained, water was removed from the trench and an exit ladder was provided," said OSHA Area Director James Mulligan in Braintree, Massachusetts. "This tragedy was entirely preventable."

 

In addition, the agency found Pereira failed to do the following:

 

OSHA has cited Pereira for two willful and six serious violations and proposed $283,115 in penalties.

 

 

The EPA recently announced the cancellation of all products containing the pesticide dimethyl tetrachloroterephthalate (DCPA or Dacthal) under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA).

 

In making this decision, EPA relied on the best available science, which included robust studies demonstrating thyroid toxicity. Unborn babies whose pregnant mothers are exposed to DCPA from handling, entering or working in areas where DCPA has already been applied, could experience changes to fetal thyroid hormone levels. These changes are generally linked to low birth weight, impaired brain development, decreased IQ, and impaired motor skills later in life, some of which may be irreversible.

 

“With the final cancellation of DCPA, we’re taking a definitive step to protect pregnant women and their unborn babies,” said Assistant Administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention Michal Freedhoff. “The science showing the potential for irreversible harm to unborn babies’ developing brains, in addition to other lifelong consequences from exposure, demands decisive action to remove this dangerous chemical from the marketplace.”

 

DCPA is a pesticide that was registered to control weeds in both agricultural and non-agricultural settings, but was primarily used on crops such as broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage and onions.

 

In 2013, the agency issued a Data Call-In (DCI) to AMVAC Chemical Corporation (AMVAC), the sole manufacturer of DCPA, requiring it to submit more than 20 studies to support the then-existing registrations of DCPA. The required data, due in January 2016, included a comprehensive study of the effects of DCPA on thyroid development and function in adults and in developing young before and after birth. Several of the studies that AMVAC submitted from 2013-2021 were considered insufficient to address the DCI, while the thyroid study and other studies were not submitted at all.

 

In April 2022, EPA issued a very rarely used Notice of Intent to Suspend the DCPA technical-grade product (used to manufacture end-use products) based on AMVAC’s failure to submit the complete set of required data for almost 10 years, including the thyroid study. Although AMVAC submitted the required thyroid study in August 2022, EPA suspended the registration based solely on AMVAC’s continued failure to submit other outstanding data following an administrative hearing. In November 2023, EPA lifted the data submission suspension after AMVAC submitted sufficient data. Most DCPA use on turf was voluntarily canceled by AMVAC in December 2023, but unacceptable risks from other uses remained.

 

In May 2023, EPA released its assessment on the risks of occupational and residential exposure to products containing DCPA, following its analysis of the thyroid study submitted by AMVAC. The assessment found health risks associated with DCPA use and application, even when personal protective equipment and engineering controls are used. The most serious risks were to the unborn babies. EPA estimated that some pregnant mothers handling DCPA products could be subjected to exposures four to 20 times greater than what EPA had estimated is safe for unborn babies. Also of concern were risks to unborn babies of pregnant mothers entering or working in areas where DCPA had been applied or living near areas where DCPA was used. Levels of DCPA in a treated field could remain at unsafe levels for 25 days or more.  In April 2024, EPA issued a public warning regarding the significant health risks to unborn babies of pregnant mothers exposed to DCPA and its intent to pursue action to address the health risks associated with the pesticide as quickly as possible.

 

The August 2024 emergency suspension issued by EPA was the first time in almost 40 years EPA has taken this type of emergency action. Following EPA’s emergency suspension EPA received a letter from AMVAC stating its intent to voluntarily cancel the remaining pesticide products containing DCPA in the U.S. AMVAC subsequently announced that it intends to cancel all international registrations as well. On Aug. 29, 2024, EPA published a notice in the Federal Register requesting public comments on the voluntary cancellation. The comment period has concluded, and EPA is publishing the final cancellation order.

 

The final cancellation prohibits anyone from distributing, selling or carrying out other similar activities for the remaining pesticide products containing DCPA. It also means that no person can continue using existing stocks of those products. AMVAC has developed a voluntary return program for existing DCPA products. In advance of the cancellation order, AMVAC implemented a plan to identify existing stocks and coordinated a collection process. When the return program concludes in the fall of 2024, EPA will continue monitoring this process to ensure that the collected DCPA products are disposed in a manner in accordance with applicable laws. EPA plans to release additional information about any remaining stocks in the coming months.

 

Read the public inspection version of the Federal Register notice on the DCPA Final Cancellation Order for Pesticide Registrations. Upon publication of the Federal Register notice, the final order will be is available at docket EPA-HQ-OPP-2011-0374 at the Regulations.gov page.

 

For answers to frequently asked questions about DCPA, please see the DCPA Questions and Answers webpage. For additional background on the DCPA and EPA’s efforts to assess and address risks, see the Aug. 6, 2024, or Aug. 28, 2024, press releases.

 

 

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