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EPA mandate New renovation rules to push up costs(epa police now in your home)
fwbusinesspress.com ^ | April 12th, 2010 | 4/12/2010

Posted on 04/12/2010 12:15:00 PM PDT by day21221

EPA mandate New renovation rules to push up costs

BY ALESHIA HOWE April 12, 2010

Renovation companies nationwide are preparing for a new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s mandate beginning April 22 and local experts say homeowners should be prepared to see a higher bill because of it.

According to the EPA’s new Renovation Repair and Paint rule, beginning on April 22 builders performing renovation, repair and painting projects that disturb lead-based paint in homes, child care facilities and schools built before 1978 must be EPA certified and must follow specific work practices to prevent lead contamination.

“Some things won’t change, but one thing is for sure – it’s going to increase the cost of remodeling a home that was built before 1978,” said Stephen L. Polozola, an attorney with Decker Jones McMackin McClane Hall & Bates P.C., who specializes in construction law.

The new rules will require builders to send in their application to the EPA to become a certified firm and each employee must get his or her certified renovator status, which requires an eight-hour training course and passing an exam. According to the EPA, this employee also will be responsible for training other employees and overseeing work practices and cleaning.

Once work starts on the renovation of a pre-1978 home, the certified renovator has a ‘check-list’ to complete including giving homeowners handouts and securing a signature from the homeowner notifying them of safe renovation practices.

Certified renovators also will be required to post warning signs outside the work area and supervise setting up containment to prevent spreading dust using specific containment procedures for both interior and exterior projects – such as cleaning the area with HEPA vacuuming and wet washing.

It’s these steps local experts say will bump up renovation project costs for home owners.

“Contractors typically use a wet/dry vac to clean up after themselves on a job, but now they’re going to have to purchase one with a HEPA filter, so instead of $200 or $300 for a vac, they’re looking at $1,500 and they’re obviously going to have to pass along those expenses to the consumer,” Polozola said. “It will without question increase expenses.”

Robert S. Mathews, the current president of the National Association of the Remodeling Industry’s Fort Worth chapter and owner of Curb Appeal Renovations Inc., agreed renovation costs will increase, but said the outcome was worth it.

“I wouldn’t really say it will drag out the process; it will add more to the cost of the remodel but more importantly, it will make it safer for those living in the homes, especially if there are children living in the homes,” he said.

According to a report by the President’s Task force on Environmental Health and Safety Risks to Children, an estimated 24 million pre-1978 U.S. dwellings were at risk for lead-based paint hazards.

Both Polozola and Mathews agreed that many contractors and home owners may still be unaware of the changing law – something that could be even more costly down the road.

“[Homeowners] need to start using certified professionals to complete the work on their homes so they don’t endanger themselves and their family,” Mathews said. “This is also a great way to make sure those in our industry know about the new laws as well – many in our industry aren’t even aware that the laws have changed, but with the first fine starting at $32,500 this is not a slap on the wrist. The EPA is taking this very seriously and so should our industry.”

Not all projects will be subject to the new rule. Pre-1978 structures that include minor repairs or where interior work disturbs less than six square feet or exteriors disturbing less than 20 square feet will be exempt. And any home that tests lead free will be exempt as well.

“There are many in our industry who, as with any law, won’t abide,” Mathews said. “The public needs to be made aware of the new law to make sure that everyone in their family is safe.”

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TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Front Page News; Government
KEYWORDS: 111th; agenda; bhoepa; envirofascism; environmentgestapo; epa; epabrownshirts; green; home; liberalfascism; lping; police
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EPA Introduces New Lead Safety Regulation POSTED: 7:19 am EDT April 12, 2010 After a nearly two-decade delay, a new rule requiring the construction industry to take measures to protect children from lead poisoning will be implemented April 22, says the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Renovation and remodeling contractors' requirements under the new regulation include containing work sites with plastic and thoroughly cleaning up lead paint dust stirred up during work, The New York Times reported.

About 38 million units of housing stock are potentially affected by the rule, according to EPA officials.

"We think it will be very effective," Steve Owens, assistant administrator for the EPA's office of prevention, pesticides and toxic substances, told the Times. "It's a rule designed to address one of the major sources of lead pollution."

Legislation directing the EPA to propose the regulation was passed by Congress in 1992. The EPA finally finished the rule in 2008 after a lawsuit from environmental and public interest groups, the newspaper said.

1 posted on 04/12/2010 12:15:02 PM PDT by day21221
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To: day21221

“The new rules will require builders to send in their application to the EPA to become a certified firm and each employee must get his or her certified renovator status, which requires an eight-hour training course and passing an exam. According to the EPA, this employee also will be responsible for training other employees and overseeing work practices and cleaning. “

Boy, this is sure gonna help jobs right along!

Good Grief!! I can also see homeowners insurance claims becoming a nightmare because of the increase in “ordinance” payments now required in repairing a normal home after a kitchen fire or something.

This is a nightmare and this will effect a whole lot of folks who make less than $200,000 a year.

The EPA is an UNELECTED BODY and has no legal right to this at all. But as usual, the elite political folks will let it ride right by...


2 posted on 04/12/2010 12:20:28 PM PDT by autumnraine (America how long will you be so deaf and dumb to the chariot wheels carrying you to the guillotine?)
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To: day21221

Since when did the EPA start running the country? How many EPA employees have been elected by the public across this country?


3 posted on 04/12/2010 12:22:14 PM PDT by RC2
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To: day21221
“unintended” bi-product: More slums, more unrepaired, unsafe units.
4 posted on 04/12/2010 12:22:15 PM PDT by Truth29
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To: day21221

We have a school around here that closed in 1985. At the time the cost to demolish it would have been a few hundred thou. But some of the school board members were against this, thinking that if enrollment increased in the future it could be reopened. Two years later the EPA issued new regs on asbestos, very similar to these. The cost of demolition shot up to nearly $5 million almost immediately.
The school has been rotting away with water damage and collapsing roof ever since, the board not having the $5 mil to legally tear it down.


5 posted on 04/12/2010 12:24:20 PM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: day21221

The EPA is unconstitutional since Article 1 Section 8 does not specifically grant Congress the power to regulate the environment.


6 posted on 04/12/2010 12:25:07 PM PDT by Man50D (Fair Tax, you earn it, you keep it! www.FairTaxNation.com)
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To: Buckeye McFrog

Dalrymple or Austin?


7 posted on 04/12/2010 12:29:19 PM PDT by Cletus.D.Yokel (We were hoping for flying unicorns that crapped skittles. We got nationalized health care.)
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To: day21221

In her speech Friday, Palin used the term “Economic Punishment Agency.” Sure fits here.


8 posted on 04/12/2010 12:30:34 PM PDT by CedarDave (Sarah: " Shoot ... Oh, I said 'shoot', I'm sorry" ... followed with an embarrassed grin on her face)
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To: day21221

I was thinking about having my windows replaced later this year. I might have to ask for quotes for the full job and for just doing the window installation in 8 holes where the windows used to be so the installer doesn’t disturb any lead surfaces (just ignore all those paint chips and glass shards on the ground outside)


9 posted on 04/12/2010 12:33:05 PM PDT by KarlInOhio (Obamacare: The 2010 version of the Intolerable Acts.)
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To: day21221

More people and contractors will just do it without permits and people will pay cash. It’s a lose lose situation for the Marxist regime.


10 posted on 04/12/2010 12:35:30 PM PDT by mojitojoe (“Our leaders seek to pit us against one another, and torment us relentlessly."Mark Levin)
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To: day21221
EPA has absolutely no jurisdiction on this matter unless there is an FHA loan, period.

This is strictly a State matter.

11 posted on 04/12/2010 12:40:20 PM PDT by Carry_Okie (The RINOcrat Party is still in charge. There has never been a conservative American government.)
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To: day21221
Thank you for joining Free Republic on the 8th of April, 2010 to give us this news! I contacted the contractor school which I utilize for my State mandated continuing education requirements to see if they were offering a class. They got right back to me and informed me that this is an EPA law and only the EPA has enforcement authority. No local or State construction officials will be enforcing this law. Furthermore, some construction schools are advertising that they are State approved to offer this mandated class at a cost of $225.00. The State has not approved any schools because this is a EPA mandated Law. I have bid on Fed Grant jobs that required Lead Paint safeguards in the past and the training was provided by the administrator of the grant in a few hours.

Before I pay for any class I will need to research this Bullcrap! Sounds like they may have a problem enforcing this.

12 posted on 04/12/2010 12:40:33 PM PDT by goodtomato (I'm really, really blessed! I support Marco Rubio 2010)
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To: day21221

this will do wonders for a struggling housing market.

*sigh*


13 posted on 04/12/2010 12:40:42 PM PDT by TexasFreeper2009 (Obama = Epic Fail)
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To: day21221
“Some things won’t change, but one thing is for sure – it’s going to increase the cost of remodeling a home that was built before 1978,” said Stephen L. Polozola

"We think it will be very effective," Steve Owens, assistant administrator for the EPA's office of prevention, pesticides and toxic substances...


Yeah, effective at further reducing work activity in the construction trades.....

hh
14 posted on 04/12/2010 12:40:58 PM PDT by hoosier hick (Note to RINOs: We need a choice, not an echo....Barry Goldwater)
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To: day21221

As a kid, I cast lead soldiers. Mom used to let us play with the Mercury when a thermometer broke. I had a summer job where I cleaned industrial furnace boiler boxes and I’m sure there was all kinds of asbestos around there. Washed my hands with gasoline, turpentine, bleach or whatever would do the job. I’m sure some of that contributed to my change from a liberal kid to a disgruntled old conservative.


15 posted on 04/12/2010 12:41:03 PM PDT by USMCPOP (Father of LCpl. Karl Linn, KIA 1/26/2005 Al Haqlaniyah, Iraq)
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To: day21221
We built in 1973 but did NOT USE ANY LEAD BASED PAINT--ALL LATEX. Our exterior is natural cedar and rock. The EPA can pound sand (if it isn't against their rules.

vaudine

16 posted on 04/12/2010 12:43:14 PM PDT by vaudine (,,)
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To: Carry_Okie

“This is strictly a State matter. “

The one with the gold makes the rules, and the states are broke.


17 posted on 04/12/2010 12:44:06 PM PDT by DonaldC (A nation cannot stand in the absence of religious principle.)
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To: day21221
“Contractors typically use a wet/dry vac to clean up after themselves on a job, but now they’re going to have to purchase one with a HEPA filter, so instead of $200 or $300 for a vac, they’re looking at $1,500 and they’re obviously going to have to pass along those expenses to the consumer,” Polozola said.

If a contractor does 20 jobs a year, and if one of these vacs lasts 3 years, then the avg. cost increase is less than $25 per job. That is not the argument I would be making against this regulation. Certified renovators

Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! When ever someone has to have special certification because of a gov't regulation, they will be able to charge more. Perhaps 20% to 30% more. A $1500 job will be priced at $1800 or more.

18 posted on 04/12/2010 12:47:38 PM PDT by mlocher (USA is a sovereign nation)
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To: day21221; Jet Jaguar; NorwegianViking; ExTexasRedhead; HollyB; FromLori; ...

The list, ping


19 posted on 04/12/2010 12:53:00 PM PDT by Nachum (The complete Obama list at www.nachumlist.com)
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To: day21221

EPA: Eratic Political Anti American: out of control and in need of repair or replacement


20 posted on 04/12/2010 12:54:04 PM PDT by The Wizard (I support Madam President, the only President in America today)
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