Protecting What's Right

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has tightened a 2008 rule to help prevent lead poisoning, by eliminating an opt-out exemption for homeowners who do not have small children.

The lead rule requires all construction contractors performing work on homes, schools, and child care facilities built before 1978 to follow strict containment and cleanup guidelines designed to protect building inhabitants from lead exposure if the job may disturb lead-based paint.  Lead is a known neurotoxin, especially in young children.

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Crews working on the leaking Gulf well will “be in a position later today to put a containment cap over the well,” Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, head of the federal oil spill response team, told reporters Monday.

According to Allen, once the new cap is placed over the well, scientists will be able to gauge the pressure inside, then determine whether the cap will hold the oil or if crews will need to continue siphoning oil to the surface to relieve pressure. But while robots replace the old cap with a new one, crude will flow freely into the Gulf.

“What we are talking about now is containing the oil,” said Allen. “That’s far different than actually killing the well…We will need to do that, ultimately, but this will significantly improve our situation regarding the amount of oil coming to the surface while we finish the relief wells, which are the final solution.”

There are currently two relief wells under construction, one of which is scheduled to intercept the gushing wellhead as early as the end of July, BP Senior Vice President Kent Wells said Sunday.