Hysterical, power-hungry EPA will require all property owners to have “no detectable level of lead dust in the air” – an impossible feat
Lead exposure is a serious health concern, especially for children, whose developing brains are drastically affected by the heavy metal. However, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is going a step too far in regulating the heavy metal on private property.
According to new rules released by Biden’s EPA -- homes, apartment buildings and child care facilities must test completely negative for lead. Under most circumstances, this is completely implausible. Lead particulate matter is ubiquitous is air measurements across the world.
Instead of taking realistic steps to mitigate the risk of heavy metal exposures, this new rule gives the EPA unlimited power and uses hysterical measurements to seize control over private property.
All air and soil contain detectable levels of lead, but there’s no reason to panic
Under the new rules, any detectable level of lead dust in a building would be considered a “lead hazard” and property owners would be ordered by the EPA and the courts to clean up the building. If remediation efforts are not good enough (and they won’t be in most cases), then the building may be condemned or torn down.
This is what happens when hysteria takes over the regulatory agencies: they virtue signal about detecting irrelevant concentrations and then use their findings to justify abusing their power. In the study National Trends in Lead Concentration in 2010-2023, the ambient lead level in the atmosphere across the US is just over 0.025 ug/m³. This is based on measurement of 79 sites across the country. Similarly in Europe, soil levels of lead are routinely measured at 25-35 ng/m³, which is approximately the same level.
According to the study, the average concentration of lead hasn’t gone up in the last decade. A recent document from the EPA shows that the dust in the air, averaged across all monitoring sites, ranges from 0.015 to 0.045 µg/m³.These are detectable levels of lead across the Earth’s atmosphere and throughout the soil, but the existence of lead at these levels does not mean everyone's lives are in danger and it must be remediated at all costs!
The EPA, on the other hand, disagrees now, and will be able to take any detectable level of lead and seize power over the situation, claiming a public health threat in a building, and ordering the expensive remediation and takedown of properties throughout the country. While there has been a natural 87% decrease in the national average of lead in the Earth’s atmosphere, the EPA could still find a meaningless, detectable level of lead somewhere and claim dominion over that property, demanding remediation.
EPA’s hysterical “no detectable level of lead” rule will lead to great economic costs and abuse of power
The current EPA regulations for drinking water require no more that 15 parts per billion of lead, a concentration so low, it is difficult to detect. The new EPA rule will expand lead testing and make it more profitable. According to a press release from MIT, there is a new way to find lead at 1 part per billion. They write that “testing for lead in water requires expensive, cumbersome equipment and typically requires days to get results.”
MIT developed a new testing system that can detect lead concentration “as low as 1 part per billion.” The goal, as stated in the press release, is to use simple test strips that reveal a yes-or-no answer about the presence of lead. However, these basic, highly-sensitive tests offer no information about the concentration of lead.
According to the new EPA rule, the concentration doesn't matter because "any detectable level of lead” is means to panic, granting the EPA unlimited power to seize control over private property and tear down buildings that cannot test negative for lead. The new lead testing system and the EPA’s new hysterical rule represents a manufactured environmental crisis - one that will come with great economic costs and abuses of government power.
Sources include:
EPA.gov [PDF]
