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PROVIDENCE — The state is making progress toward its goal of cleaning up as many as 600 housing units contaminated with toxic lead paint, Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick Lynch said Monday.
The $6.7 million project is funded by DuPont and targets homes and apartments in low-income neighborhoods. Lynch, who spoke outside a low-income home in Providence currently undergoing remediation, said he hopes to complete the work by 2012.
"As long as there is one child harmed and one family adversely affected, the eradication of lead poisoning in our state remains one of our foremost responsibilities, and a top priority," Lynch said in a statement.
DuPont was dismissed in 2005 from a state lawsuit against former lead paint manufacturers after agreeing to a multimillion-dollar payment.
The state went on to win a landmark jury verdict in 2006 that could have cost Sherwin-Williams Co. and two other former lead paint makers billions of dollars to remove lead paint from tens of thousands of homes. But the Rhode Island Supreme Court overturned the verdict last year, saying the companies no longer had control of their product.
DuPont was dropped from the lawsuit months before it went to trial after reaching a deal with the state that the company valued at roughly $12.5 million, including $9 million pledged to Children's Health Forum, a Washington nonprofit that works on lead poisoning issues.
The deal drew scrutiny because Lynch had taken campaign contributions from people with ties to DuPont and because Children's Health Forum had received most of its funding from DuPont and most of its board members had ties to the company.
