House Committee Again Votes to Stop EPA Lead Rule Enforcement

Washington, D.C. - Today, the National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association (NLBMDA) commended the House Appropriations Committee for once again adopting an amendment to the upcoming budget for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) which would prohibit the agency from enforcing its Lead: Renovation, Repair and Painting (LRRP) Rule until the agency approves a reliable lead test kit as mandated by the agency's own regulations. The NLBMDA-supported amendment was again sponsored by Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-MT) and was approved by a party-line vote of 27-20. The same amendment adopted by the committee last year was not enacted when Congress only extended agency funding through a continuing resolution and not separate legislation.

When EPA implemented the final LRRP Rule the agency was supposed to have approved a commercially-available lead test kit which produced no more than ten percent false positives and five percent false negatives. As of today, no such kit is available on the market and some kits can produce false positives as high as 60 percent of the time. This forces LRRP compliance and the additional costs upon thousands of consumers in homes that otherwise would have tested negative.

"NLBMDA would like to thank Congressman Rehberg for his efforts to help alleviate the unjustified compliance burden placed on dealers and their customers, as a result of unreliable test kits," said NLBMDA Chair Cally Fromme, Executive Vice President of Zarsky Lumber Company in Victoria, Texas. "If the EPA is going to expect compliance from the regulated community, we expect them to adhere to their own regulations, as well."

The appropriations bill will now move to the full House of Representatives for consideration.

Source: National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association

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