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Rehberg Holds Meeting with Contractors and EPA on Lead-Safe Requirements

By Beacon Staff

I reported last week and in our current print edition about the new safety requirements imposed on contractors by the EPA for anyone that disturbs lead-based paint in pre-1978 buildings. Some in the Montana building industry don’t believe they’ve had adequate access to the training classes to get the certification, and planned to meet in Washington D.C. this week with the state’s federal delegation. On Wednesday Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., sent out a press release describing the meeting he facilitated between representatives of the construction industry in Montana and EPA officials.

Rehberg clearly wants the April 22 deadline pushed back to give contractors more time to get certified, whereas, from what I can surmise from statements by Montana Sens. Jon Tester and Max Baucus, both Democrats, they want the EPA to be sure contractors have had adequate access to training before instituting the new requirement, but they come up short of calling for the deadline to be pushed back. The central question here is whether the contractors have had access to the training. Those who got certified already say they have, and those who haven’t, as one might expect, say they haven’t. In any case, the requirements kick in today, so any pressure to push the deadline back for rural areas is going to have to occur retroactively.

Here’s Rehberg’s full news release:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Montana’s Congressman, Denny Rehberg, today facilitated a meeting between the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and representatives from the Montana Building Industry Association (MBIA) in his Washington, D.C. office. The MBIA, along with other construction organizations, are concerned about the April 22 deadline for the implementation of the EPA’s Lead: Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule.

“Now is not the time for rigid federal regulation deadlines on an industry that’s already impacted by the economic downturn,” said Rehberg. “Everyone wants to make sure that lead-based products are handled safely, but this is a matter of fairness. Rural contractors simply need more time to get the training certification that is required.”

The new EPA lead paint rule goes into effect this Thursday, April 22nd. Under the rule, many renovations of facilities constructed before 1978 must follow new Lead Safe Work Practices that are supervised by an EPA certified renovator and performed by an EPA certified renovation firm. Construction professionals have to receive training from an EPA-certified trainer which can cost as much as $250. In addition to ensuring that their employees receive the training, firms have to register with the EPA and be “certified” that they do lead renovation work (at a cost of $300).

Rehberg, who has no problems with the regulation itself, has spearheaded a broad effort in the House to delay the implementation of the rule because of the lack of opportunity contractors have had to be trained by an EPA-certified trainer. This is especially true in rural states like Montana where there is only one certified trainer, at MSU in Bozeman.

“We really appreciate Denny for arranging this totally unique and valuable opportunity for us to meet directly with the people who created this rule,” said Dustin Stewart, the executive director of MBIA who also estimates that at least half of the people who need to be trained in Montana will not have been by Thursday’s deadline. “We still have significant disagreements about the timing of this implementation, and concerns about what it will mean for our industry, but the opportunity to put our faces to those concerns directly with the EPA was invaluable.”