California bans lead from tyre weights

By Miles Moore (TB)

SACRAMENTO, California -- California is banning lead wheel weights starting in January, as per a bill signed into law Oct. 11 by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The bill, which was sponsored by the Center for Environmental Health (CEH) and Clean Water Action (CWA), forbids the manufacture, sale and use of wheel weights in California containing more than 0.1-percent lead starting Jan. 1.

It provides for injunctive relief and civil or administrative penalties of up to $2,000 per day against those who violate the ban. All fines collected for violations of the ban will go into the Hazardous Waste Control account within California's Department of Toxic Substances Control.

If any alternative used as a substitute to lead in wheel weights is discovered to be a “chemical of concern” under California law, the department would be required to evaluate the substance to determine how best to limit public exposure and reduce the hazard level, the bill states.

This bill represents the ultimate success of CEH and CWA in their five-year effort to get lead weights banned in California. There was already a de facto ban on lead weights in the state.

Chrysler Group L.L.C.-the last major auto maker to use lead weights as original equipment on its vehicles-agreed recently with the state to stop distributing lead weights in California by year-end.

The three major manufacturers of wheel weights in the U.S.-Plombco Inc., Perfect Equipment Inc. and Hennessy Industries Inc.-also agreed to stop distributing lead weights in California by year-end. Plombco was the first to stop, last Dec. 31.

Washington state passed a bill earlier this year to ban lead wheel weights within its borders as of Jan. 1, 2011. Lead weights have been illegal in the European Union since 2005. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has not banned the use of lead wheel weights, but in August 2008 it launched its “National Lead Free Wheel Weight Initiative,” a voluntary effort endorsed by major tyre makers, auto makers, wheel weight manufacturers and government agencies.

Paul Fiore, director of government and business affairs for the Tire Industry Association, said TIA's position on lead weights hasn't changed since the issue first became controversial several years ago.

The Bowie, Md.-based trade association applauds all efforts to remove lead from the environment, Mr. Fiore said, but it remains concerned about the effects enforcement of anti-lead laws would have on members and about the possible creation of a black market in lead weights.

“Our wholesaler members especially will have difficulty with this new law,” he said. “That's why we prefer federal action to state-by-state regulation. But it is what it is, and we'll have to deal with it and see what comes next.”

From Tire Business (A Crain publication)