United States Environmental Protection Anencv Office ofthe Administrator EPA-100-F-00-045 September2000 fhttn7/www ena nnvl EPA WHAT IS PROJECTXL? SUM MARY OF THE LEAD SAFE BOSTON PROJECT SUPERIOR ENVIRONMENTA LPERFORMANCE FLEXIBILITY ProjectXL: Lead Safe Boston ECONOM INN OVA'1' ON Project XL, which stands for "excellence and Leadership," is a national initiative that tests innovative ways of achieving better and more cost-effective public health and environmental protection. The information and lessons learned from Project XL are being used to assist the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in redesigning its current regulatory and policy-setting approaches. Project XL encourages testing of cleaner, cheaper, and smarter ways to attain environmental results superior to those achieved under current regulations and policies, in conjunction with greater accountability to stakeholders. It is vital that each project tests new ideas with the potential for wide application and broad environmental benefits. As of October 2, 2000, over forty pilot experiments are being implemented and several additional projects are in various stages of development. Lead Safe Boston (LSB) is a federally-funded de-leading assistance program that operates under Boston's Department of Neighborhood Development. LSB collaborates with state agencies and private organizations to prevent lead poisoning of young children by working to control lead hazards in the highest risk areas of the city. Boston has an estimated 153,064 units of housing containing lead-based paint. Approximately 69,500 of those units are occupied by families with young children. In this XL project, LSB seeks to reduce the cost of lead abatements in residential housing, and then use the savings to conduct approximately 12 additional residential lead abatements, potentially reducing lead exposure risks for approximately 30 children in Boston's Dorchester and Roxbury neighborhoods. These additional abatements will be done according to Housing and Urban Development (HUD) procedures. LSB also will share the results of this project nationally with any individual or contractor performing lead abatement activities in residential housing units - ultimately protecting thousands of children from lead poisoning. This XL project, EPA's 47th, was signed on October 2, 2000. This XL project will reduce the risk of childhood lead poisoning by allowing more lead abatements to occur in residential housing units. Specifically, with funding available from HUD, LSB will be able to perform approximately 12 additional lead abatement projects. This would protect approximately 25 to 30 additional children from lead poisoning. Moreover, on a national level, EPA's new lead policy, developed as part of this XL project, may ultimately protect thousands of children from lead poisoning. This XL project extends use of provisions in the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Hazardous Waste Exclusion (HWE) Rule that allow LSB to forego costly toxicity testing, and to dispose of lead debris from their residential lead abatement projects in municipal solid waste landfills. EPA's new lead policy reinterprets existing HWE regulations so that they apply to contractors ------- STAKEHOLDER INVOLVEMENT performing lead abatement activities in residential houses. These new provisions apply not only to Lead Safe Boston, but to any contractor in the country that removes or abates lead-based paint from private residences. Lead Safe Boston developed a formal stakeholder outreach process that included hosting public meetings and comment periods at key points throughout the project. Will streamlining lead removal procedures cut costs and reduce the APPROACHES TO time associated with handling and disposing of lead in residential BE TESTED housing? CONTACTS FOR ELECTRONIC INFORMATION Regional Contact: EPA/XL HQ: Project Sponsor: Mike Hill John DuPree Kenneth Griffin 617-918-1398 202-260-4468 617-635-0444 More information about Project XL is available on the Internet at http://www.epa.gov/ProjectXL, or via Project XL's Information Line at 202-260-5754. ------- |