Abstract
Lead exposure has blighted communities across the United States (and the
globe), with much of the burden resting on lower income and communities
of color. On January 17, 2024, the US Environmental Protection Agency
(USEPA) has, after more than 30 years, lowered the allowable level of
lead in residential soils. Our analysis of tens of thousands of
citizen-science collected soil samples from cities and communities
around the US reveals the scale of the soil lead problem, and the
challenge that the USEPA will face in implementing its new soil
standard. Under this standard, we find that nearly one quarter of
households may contain a soil lead hazard. Extrapolating across the
nation, that equates to nearly 30 million households needing to mitigate
potential soil lead hazards, at a potential total cost of $290 billion
to - $1.2 trillion. We do not think this type of mitigation is feasible
at the massive scale required and we have instead focused on a more
immediate, far cheaper strategy: capping current soils with clean soils
and/or mulch. At a fraction of the cost and labor of disruptive
conventional soil mitigation, it yields immediate and potentially
life-changing benefits for those living in these environments.