Health standard for lead tightened

WASHINGTON — Three decades after removing lead from gasoline, the Environmental Protection Agency is slashing the amount of the toxic metal that will be allowed in the nation's air by 90 percent.

EPA officials, under a federal court order to set a new standard by midnight Wednesday, said the limit would better protect public health, especially for children. They can inhale lead particles released from smelters, mines and waste incinerators and ingest it after it settles on surfaces.

Exposure to even low levels of lead early in life can affect learning, IQ and memory in children. Lead can cause cardiovascular, blood pressure and kidney problems in adults.

"Our nation's air is cleaner today than just a generation ago, and last night I built upon this progress by signing the strongest air quality standards for lead in our nation's history," the EPA chief, Stephen Johnson, said Thursday. "Thanks to this stronger standard, EPA will protect my children from remaining sources of airborne lead."

The new limit, 0.15 micrograms per cubic meter, is the first update since 1978, when the government helped phase out leaded gasoline. It is 10 times lower than the old standard, 1.5 micrograms per cubic meter.

The EPA estimates that 18 counties in a dozen states will violate the new standard. That means state and local governments must find ways to further reduce lead emissions.

The new limit is in the lower end of a range recommended in May by the agency's independent scientific advisory panel. By contrast, the Bush administration did not follow its own staff's advice or its science advisers when it set health standards for smog and soot that were less stringent than recommendations.

The EPA also said it would require lead to be measured in 101 cities and near sources that release at least 1 ton of lead per year.

A representative for the Association of Battery Recyclers said the new standard would be difficult to meet. Several members of the group, which represents 14 facilities that recycle lead from car batteries, met two weeks ago with White House and EPA officials to seek a less stringent standard.

"We have put in the best controls and we are going to still have compliance problems," said Robert Steinwurtzel, a lawyer for the group. "We explained to them our concerns that if the standard was promulgated at lower end of EPA's range it would threaten viability of industry."