Getting the Lead Out: EPA kickstarts Maine lead paint initiative
BOSTON (May 22, 2025) - As part of a longstanding effort to address the risks of lead paint across New England, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will begin an initiative in Maine involving outreach, education, compliance assistance, and enforcement activities. EPA will focus on areas located in central Maine along the I-95 Corridor, including Androscoggin, Cumberland, Kennebec, Penobscot, and Waldo counties. These areas were selected in part due to the number of children with elevated blood lead levels as reported by Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. This initiative will help increase awareness of and compliance with federal lead-based paint rules.
"EPA New England's lead paint initiative is about protecting children where they live, learn, and play, while reducing their lead exposure in homes," said EPA New England Regional Administrator Mark Sanborn. "Every family should feel safe from environmental hazards in their communities. By working closely with our local counterparts, this is a clear example of how EPA is protecting the public health of Americans and their families."
"Maine DEP appreciates this collaborative effort led by EPA to raise awareness of the hazards of lead exposure and ensure that contractors follow the laws designed to protect our citizens," said Commissioner Melanie Loyzim, Maine Department of Environmental Protection.
EPA will provide outreach and education activities in Aroostook County, the largest county in the state by total area, and for federally recognized tribal communities in northern Maine. Outreach and education efforts in northern Maine aim to increase availability to lead safe renovation professionals in less populated areas.
EPA's lead paint initiative aims to reduce childhood lead exposure through increased awareness and improved compliance with the Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) Rule, the Lead Disclosure Rule, and the Safe Drinking Water Act's Lead and Copper Rule. Homes built before 1978 are very likely to contain lead paint. Lead is particularly harmful to children because they are more vulnerable to its effects, which include damage to the brain and nervous system.
In coordination with federal, state, tribal and local partners, EPA will:
- Provide compliance assistance to the regulated community, including firms that perform renovation, repair, or painting of homes and child-occupied facilities built pre-1978;
- Deliver multimedia educational materials and information to the public;
- Present lead-based paint regulation training and materials to state and local health and building code officials and tribal environmental health agencies;
- Conduct compliance inspections; and
- Address violations using a range of tools including penalty and non-penalty enforcement actions.
This initiative has previously included areas in Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont.
Background
Lead is a neurotoxin that impairs how children learn, grow, and behave. Even low levels of exposure have been linked to lower IQ, hyperactivity, and damage to children's nervous systems. Lead is particularly dangerous to children because their growing bodies absorb more lead than adults and their brains and nervous systems are more sensitive to its damaging effects. Children can be more highly exposed because they often put their hands and objects that may have lead dust on them into their mouths. Lead and lead compounds were used in a wide variety of products including paint, ceramics, pipes and plumbing materials, solders, aviation gasoline, batteries, ammunition, imported seasonings, candy, food and cosmetics.
EPA's RRP Rule is designed to prevent children's exposure to lead-based paint and/or lead-based paint hazards resulting from renovation, repair and painting projects in pre-1978 residences, schools and other buildings where children are present. If lead painted surfaces are to be disturbed at a job site, the RRP Rule requires individual renovators and self proprietors to complete an initial accredited training course and the company or firm that they work for to be certified by EPA.
EPA's Lead Disclosure Rule is designed to ensure that potential buyers and renters of housing built prior to 1978 receive certain information about lead-based paint and lead-based paint hazards in the residence prior to becoming obligated to buy or rent and provides the opportunity for an independent lead inspection for buyers. Sellers, landlords, and agents are responsible for compliance.
Learn more at epa.gov/lead