At IG's Urging, EPA Will Re-Evaluate Guidance To Address Lead In Soil

摘要

EPA's waste office is re-evaluating its guidance for site assessments of potentially contaminated properties to determine if revisions are needed to address lead contamination in soil, responding to EPA Inspector General (IG) recommendations in a new report that found the agency took more than 12 years to complete preliminary site assessment work at over 460 former lead smelter sites due in part to challenges in addressing urban lead contamination. The IG is asking the agency to assess whether cleanup or other actions are needed to address lead contamination when background levels of lead exceed screening levels - often the case in urban settings - and whether referrals to other agencies are needed to address health impacts of such lead exposures.