Dive Summary:

• Rules requiring testing for lead-based paint during renovations or remodeling in commercial structures were to have taken effect this year.
• Putting a rule in place for commercial buildings, where lead-based paint may still be used, was part of a legal settlement between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and environmental groups, including the Sierra Club. It would have required testing before a project could be completed.
• The National Association of Home Builders argued that adding commercial would replicate a problem that already exists in the residential remodeling market, where contractors who behave properly and follow the rules lose business to less-ethical contractors who underbid them.

From the release:

The Environmental Protection Agency has delayed its plans to expand the Lead: Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule to commercial buildings until 2015. ...