Following a Rhode Island jury’s verdict in 2006 that three manufacturers of lead paint created a public nuisance when they manufactured and sold the paint, the state’s Attorney General, Patrick C. Lynch, has filed a plan to abate lead in houses and buildings in Rhode Island. The R.I. Lead Nuisance Abatement Plan (the “Plan”), filed on September 14, 2007, proposes a $2.4 billion program to abate lead in 240,000 housing units, schools and day care centers. The Plan prioritizes how the abatement should proceed, discusses abatement treatment options and addresses the administrative aspects of the program.
The Plan, which is described as equivalent to efforts to eradicate typhoid, cholera and tuberculosis as housing-related diseases, is not intended to eradicate lead entirely but would render the bulk of Rhode Island’s housing units safe for children for the expected life of a building. The defendants would administer the abatement efforts with oversight from an independent body.
It is expected that it would take a workforce of 10,000 (5% of the total combined construction workforces in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut) to complete the abatement in four years. The defendants, who have appealed the verdict to the Rhode Island Supreme Court, have until November 15, 2007 to submit their response to the Plan. An abatement plan will not be put into effect before the appeal is decided, but the parties were ordered by the trial court judge to prepare for abatement efforts by submitting plans.
