EPA Settles Over Lead Dust Violations At Governors Mansion

(Casey Kelly/KTOO)

Throughout his administration, Gov. Sean Parnell has accused the Environmental Protection Agency of overreaching on Alaska affairs. Now, it looks like the EPA may have reached into Parnells own home. The Governors Mansion appears on a list of construction projects requiring EPA intervention for lead violations.

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Lead poisoning is nasty business. It can cause headaches and seizures, and result in miscarriages. If youre a child, the symptoms are especially bad.

Lethargy. Inability to pay of attention. At high enough levels, it can cause death, says Wallace Reid.

Reid works out of the EPAs Seattle office, and his team handles investigations into lead violations. Because a lot of modern cases of lead exposure are caused by home repairs, the EPA implemented a rule in 2010 requiring contractors to be certified in lead paint removal if theyre working on a house that was built before 1978.

Like the Alaska Governors Mansion.

The building is a century old, and the state hired Alaska Commercial Contractors to restore the whole exterior a couple of years ago. And that meant removing lead paint, which the company was not certified to do at the time.

We first became aware of it this problem in Alaska because of an anonymous tip and complaint that this work was going on and that there were problems associated with it, says Reid.

Reid says that as soon as the EPA learned of the violation, they sent two inspectors to check the area for lead paint. They found paint chips on the lawn and on the street.

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EPA Settles Over Lead Dust Violations At Governors Mansion