Maryland Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Announces Lead Poisoning Prevention Plan

Maryland Republican gubernatorial candidate Robert Ehrlich on Aug. 12 released a five-point plan to prevent lead poisoning, the Baltimore Sun reports. Ehrlich would privatize a grant program for lead paint abatement and provide tax credits to property owners who remove lead from their homes. The proposal recommends the following:

Fully funding a $5 million lead abatement program by 2005;
"Speeding the process" of grant distribution by privatizing grants for lead abatement currently managed by the Department of Housing and Community Development;
Creating a pilot program beginning in 2005 that would provide up to 500 property owners with a $1,000 tax credit for cleaning up their properties;
Hiring additional property inspectors and attorneys to strengthen enforcement efforts of current lead abatement laws; and
Directing the Department of the Environment to train small and minority-owned businesses on how to remove lead from homes.

Ruth Ann Norton, executive director of the Coalition to End Childhood Lead Poisoning, said that much of Ehrlich's plan has already been initiated by Gov. Parris Glendening's (D) administration. For example, the Glendening administration has appropriated $14.5 million for lead abatement over the past three years. Also, Ehrlich's $5 million funding proposal has already been included in the current budget, Del. Samuel Rosenberg (D) said.

Advocates Skeptical
While advocates said they were "pleased" that Ehrlich is addressing the lead situation, the Sun reports that many do not support his privatization plans. "We would want to keep a very careful eye to make sure anybody giving out the grants would not be conflicted by any associations with people who might be receiving those abatement grants," Norton said. Also, Ehrlich's proposal does not address two issues that advocates say are "crucial to combatting poisoning": it does not indicate whether Ehrlich supports assigning the state attorney general to join a lawsuit against paint companies, nor does it address whether testing for lead contamination should be based on lead dust and not paint chips. Ehrlich on Aug. 12 said that he would oppose joining a lawsuit and that testing standards "should be left to the scientists, not the politicians." His likely opponent in the gubernatorial election, Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend (D), plans to unveil a lead-poisoning prevention plan next month (Koenig, Baltimore Sun, 8/13).

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Maryland Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Announces Lead Poisoning Prevention Plan

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