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Boston Mayor Joins EPA in Announcing Lead Abatement Agreement for Boston; Agreement Expected to Spur De-Leading Work All Across the Country

Release Date: 10/02/2000
Contact Information: Peyton Fleming, EPA Press Office (617-918-1008)


BOSTON - Lead Safe Boston, which oversees lead abatement projects for the City of Boston, today joined with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Dorchester to announce a first-of-its-kind agreement that will substantially boost the number of lead abatement activities conducted in housing units in Boston and across the country.

Flanked by community leaders and families whose children have struggled with lead poisoning, Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, EPA Deputy Administrator Michael McCabe and EPA New England Administrator Mindy S. Lubber today ratified an agreement that allows lead-based paint demolition debris from residential buildings to be classified as household waste that can be sent to standard landfills. The material was previously classified by EPA as hazardous waste, which is substantially more expensive to dispose of. The policy applies to renovations done by both homeowners and contractors in residential buildings.

The agreement was negotiated under EPA's XL program, a national program designed to experiment with new regulatory schemes that could achieve better environmental results at less cost. The agreement also was ratified by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the agency that oversees lead waste management in Massachusetts, and the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD), which funds much of the lead abatement work carried out by Lead Safe Boston and other organizations across the Commonwealth and the country.

As a result of the agreement and the subsequent lower costs for de-leading work, Lead Safe Boston expects it will be able to abate lead hazards at an additional 12 residential units this year in the Dorchester/Roxbury area where about 25 to 30 children under the age of six reside. Similar boosts in activity are expected all across the country as the national policy change is adopted by other cities and states.

"This agreement is a huge step forward in reducing the lead poisoning threat not just in Boston but in cities all across the country," said Lubber, whose office worked hand-in-hand with Lead Safe Boston to change the lead-debris classification. "Ultimately, thousands of youngsters across the country stand to be spared from potential lead poisoning due to this agreement."

"This innovative agreement is a perfect example of what Project XL is all about - finding better, more cost-effective strategies for public health and environmental protection," said McCabe, noting that the agreement is the 47th XL project signed.across the country.

"This agreement will make a real difference in our efforts to prevent lead poisoning in Boston. It means that building owners can finish lead abatement projects in less time and for less money," added Boston Mayor Menino. "This agreement is the first of its kind in the nation and I hope that other cities will follow Boston's lead."

"This is one more manifestation of the strong partnership forged between EPA and HUD on environmental and public health issues," said Mary Lou Crane, director of HUD's New England Office. "This policy change will allow HUD dollars to fund more lead abatement activities here in Boston and all across New England."

"As the agency responsible for the oversight of lead waste management facilities and the cleanup of lead contaminated properties, DEP is committed to the successful implementation of lead removal projects in Boston and every other community in Massachusetts," added DEP Commissioner Lauren A. Liss. "We are also working to facilitate disposal from lead abatement projects as part of our overall mission for healthy communities."

Today's news conference at Humphrey's Place overlapped with a second lead-abatement project that EPA and Lead Safe Boston are undertaking in Boston - Lead Safe Yards, an award-winning pilot project aimed at reducing lead exposure in residential yards. A joint effort with Boston University and the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI), the Lead Safe Yards project involves measuring soil lead levels in backyards and then taking low-cost remediation measures to reduce lead exposure such as covering contaminated areas with wood chips, paving stones, grass and shrubs.

More than 50 Dorchester backyards have been tested and remediated through this program so far and an additional 40 properties will be made lead safe in Boston in the coming months.

Lead Safe Yards was recently selected by EPA to serve as a national model for other cities across the country. Today, in fact, an all-day training program is being held at Tufts University and at Humphrey's Place to teach representatives from a dozen New England cities about the program. The training at Humphrey's Place, a cluster of homes with particularly high lead poisoning rates, will include onsite visits to three backyards that have been sampled and remediated to reduce exposure to residents and children using the yards.

The seminar is being organized through the New England Lead Coordinating Committee, an EPA-sponsored consortium of state public health, housing and environment officials as well as community organizations.

New England children are particularly at risk for lead poisoning because the region's older wooden houses often contain lead paint and lead-contaminated yards. In Massachusetts alone, nearly 3,000 kids have been diagnosed with lead poisoning in the past five years, including more than 850 in Boston alone. In Boston and other cities in Massachusetts, childhood lead poisoning rates are typically above 10 percent and, in some cases, are as high as 20 percent.