WASHINGTON — Some U.S. Environmental Protection Agency staff are looking at removing lead from a 30-year-old list of air pollutants, and could recommend the same to the Bush administration.

In an EPA staff paper released Tuesday, agency said it would evaluate the status of lead as an air pollutant and "assess whether the revocation of the standard  is an appropriate option for the Administrator to consider."

The administration has been heavily lobbied by battery makers and other parties to do away with the Clean Air Act limits.

The EPA this week released a preliminary staff review that claimed circumstances have "significantly changed " since in 1976 when lead was listed as an air pollutant. The EPA claims lead levels have dropped more than 90% since then, primarily due to its elimination from gasoline.

Key congressional members disagree. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), the incoming chairman of the House Committee on Government Reform, called on the agency to "renounce this dangerous proposal immediately," according to a report in the LA Times.

The Battery Council International in July issued a letter that urged the removal of lead from the list of air pollutants, claiming that "many other regulatory vehicles exist for meeting these concerns."

• Prev
• Next