accountability of ce wrote.
Nearly a decade passed.
In 2004, a group representing radon testing companies
decided it was time to call out HUD’s inaction. Members
bombarded Congress with letters accusing the agency of
ignoring Lautenberg’s radon law, prompting a meeting
at HUD’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.
“They just at out said they weren’t required to do
anything,” said Dallas Jones, the current executive
INFOGRAPHIC: How
radon gets in your
home
director of the trade group, who attended the meeting.
The industry complaint eventually landed on the desk of HUD’s Inspector
General, Kenneth Donohue. He pressed HUD attorneys to defend the agency’s
position that no testing was required.
The lawyers twice pushed back their delivery date for a written legal opinion
before saying it would be inde nitely delayed, Donohue wrote in a letter to then-
Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pennsylvania, who was among the lawmakers who asked
for the review. Donohue said the attorneys cited the “lengthy and complex”
legislative history of radon and “possible policy rami cations.”
The case was closed.
HUD attorneys did write an analysis, however. The Oregonian/OregonLive
received the memo 11 months after ling an open records request.
The subject line: “HUD Obligations and Responsibilities regarding Radon.”
The contents? Unknown. HUD blanked out all 10 pages, citing an exemption that
walls off information prepared for decision-makers.
Crews prepare a radon removal system for Winchell Court on North Interstate Avenue in Portland, Oregon, in 2018. After installation, a pipe from the crawl
space carries radioactive gas away from the building.