Eric Frohmberg of Maine Department of Health and Human Services explains new lead rules.
Many more joined the session by video link from Bangor and Caribou, and in case there was any uncertainty as to what the dangers of lead are, a state toxicologist made it clear. "Lead at very low levels causes damage to young children's growing brains -- there's no doubt about that," said Eric Frohmberg (pictured above) of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services.
Lead was taken out of paint in 1978, but Frohmberg says there are still around 120 children in Maine poisoned by lead every year -- many due to exposure to paint. "The problem is that when that lead paint produces lead dust and it gets inside a child, that's how kids get poisoned. There's a lot of lead paint out there. The goal is to keep that paint in good shape and prevent it from turning into a hazard."
The new rules forbid any paid contractors from disturbing painted surfaces in homes or child care facilities built before 1978, unless the firm or the individual carrying out the renovation or maintenance has been certified. Any inside painted surface measuring six square feet or more will require special treatment, as will outside areas measuring at least 20 square feet.
James Bryson is the EPA's New England co-ordinator charged with implementing the new lead rule. "The rule requires that the contractors do practices that minimize dust and contain dust and debris, such as putting out additional plastic, and painters' tape, and duct tape, and buying a HEPA vacuum and maintaining the area -- something that you want to walk back into and not have any dust and debris being there," Bryson says.
The EPA estimates these investments will cost each contractor between $100 and $165, and add around $35 to the cost of an average job. Some of the contractors attending Friday's session however, say their overall expenses are much higher.
"Well, I've spend $200 to take the class to get my certificate," says Kevin Piccone, a freelance contractor who renovates apartment buildings in the Portland area. "Then to work on my own as an independent individual, not under an umbrella of another company, I have to spend another $300, and then I have to make sure that I own a HEPA vacuum cleaner, which can be several hundred dollars. Then we're talking about respirators, so by the time I'm done I'm a thousand dollars more into it to do this work. That's an awful lot of money a guy like me has to spend to even get qualified."
"I've purchased all the signage, I've purchased all the specialty vacuum cleaners that are going to be required and duct tape, tyvek suits, respirators, the list goes on," says Eric Emmertz, who is with Portland Glass -- which although not a painting firm is still affected by the new rule when replacing the windows of old houses.
In certification and equipment purchases, Emmertz says the company has so far spent around $10,000. But the biggest challenge he says, was finding certified instructors. "To meet that April 22 deadline, we're going to be OK but maybe not at the position we were hoping to be."
Tom Porter: "Where did you go to find an instructor? Did you go out-of-state?"
Eric Emmertz: "We did. We did two in Massachusetts, and did find one in Maine."
"We told EPA that for the state last year, we estimated at least 20,000 contractors in Maine would need to take the training," says Carol Cifrino of Maine's Department of Environmental Protection. "They've had one training provider in Maine, although they've had several in New England accredited for a few months now to offer trainings."
The EPA, she says, has just added a second training provider for the state of Maine. Certification began back in October, says Cifrino, and it's been a tough few months. "The training provider has been extremely busy. He's been working six days a week, and he can't even take messages or put anybody on a waiting list because he's booked through June right now."
The EPA currently estimates around a thousand people in Maine have been certified, and the DEP's Cifrino says it could take another year before everyone in Maine seeking training can be helped.
In the meantime, any contractor caught breaking the new rule after April 22nd is likely to face a fine of $37,500 a day.