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Letter to the Editor
Thursday January 3
Companies File Response to Rhode Island's Lead Paint Cleanup Plan
A state plan in Rhode Island that would force three former lead paint manufacturers to pay $2.4 billion to clean up tens of thousands of homes containing the toxic substance is unworkable, overly broad, and could even put children at risk, the companies argued in mid-December.The state presented the companies with a multibillion dollar proposal - projected to take four years, require 10,000 workers, and involve the inspection and cleanup of roughly 240,000 older homes - after winning a landmark lawsuit against the paint manufacturers in 2006.
The companies - Sherwin-Williams Co., NL Industries Inc,. and Millennium Holdings LLC - are appealing the verdict to the state Supreme Court. They asked a judge in November to strike down the state's proposal and, in December, filed a new round of challenges to the plan.
The companies contend the plan is unnecessary since Rhode Island already has successful programs to prevent childhood lead poisoning. The companies said the incidence of childhood lead poisoning in Rhode Island has rapidly decreased in the last decade, with elevated blood lead levels now at a historic low.
The manufacturers also cite testimony from the state's witnesses, who said lead paint was not dangerous unless it was peeling or chipping. They said children could be harmed if previously intact lead paint is removed or disturbed, producing dangerous particles.
"Make no mistake about it: what the Attorney General seeks is not only economically dangerous, but may well result in higher, not lower, blood lead levels in children and others across the state," lawyers for Sherwin-Williams wrote, calling the state's plan "the most elaborate, invasive, gold-plated experiment in lead abatement ever conceived."
A Superior Court jury in February 2006 found the companies liable for creating a public nuisance by manufacturing lead pigment used in paint. The verdict made Rhode Island the first state to successfully sue former lead paint makers.
Lead paint was banned from homes in the U.S. in 1978. Studies have shown children exposed to flaking paint chips or dust can suffer reduced intelligence, stomach problems, brain damage and, in extreme cases, death.
Jack McConnell, a lawyer representing the state, said he had not had an opportunity to review the companies' filings yet.
The Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case this year.
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