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R.I. wants paint makers to pay $2.4 billion

Three former makers of lead paint that lost a landmark Rhode Island lawsuit, including Cleveland-based Sherwin-Williams Co., would have to pay an estimated $2.4 billion to clean up hundreds of thousands of homes contaminated with lead under a state proposal.

The cleanup plan provides the most detailed roadmap to date for the mammoth undertaking of ridding Rhode Island homes of lead paint contamination. It would involve 10,000 workers and is projected to take four years.

The state filed the plan in Superior Court. The plan is subject to approval by a court, which could order less sweeping measures. The companies, Sherwin-Williams Co., NL Industries, Inc. and Millennium Holdings, also are appealing the February 2006 jury verdict. They have until Nov. 15 to respond to the $2.4 billion clean up proposal.

“It’s a big number by any stretch of the imagination,” said Jack McConnell, a lawyer for the state. “But it’s also a big problem that’s gone on for a long time that requires a permanent solution.”

Scott Smith, a lawyer for Millennium Holdings, called the plan a “boondoggle,” saying it was unworkable, too expensive and likely to disrupt people’s lives. “We think the state’s proposed plan is, in a word, ridiculous,” he said.

The proposal estimates it will cost an average of $11,250 to clean a home, although a report issued this year said it could cost as much as $18,500. It covers the roughly 240,000 homes in Rhode Island believed to contain lead paint.