Poverty Status and IQ Gains from Revising the Dust Lead Hazard Standards: A Method for Evaluating Environmental Justice Implications?

The purpose of this paper is to outline a method for evaluating the Environmental Justice (EJ) implications of revising the dust lead hazard standards for floors. For simplicity this paper only addresses populations as defined by poverty status, but the methods described can be applied to evaluate distributional implications by race, ethnicity, and populations defined according to alternative income categories. The method for estimating IQ gains from changes in dust lead levels follows the approach described in EPA’s 2008 report, The Approach Used for Estimating Changes in Children’s IQ from Lead Dust Generated during Renovation, Repair, and Painting in Residences and Child-occupied Facilities (EPA 2008). The results presented indicate that children living below the poverty level are more likely to live where dust lead levels exceed the alternative hazard standard level of 10 µg/ft2 for floors and therefore have the potential to benefit more from a revision to the standard compared to children living above the poverty level.