Lowe's will pay a record $500,000 civil penalty to settle allegations that contractors it hired for home projects violated the federal Lead Renovation, Repair, and Painting (RRP) rule, the Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today.

The penalty--by far the largest ever imposed for an  RRP violation--stems from investigations at 13 of Lowe's 1,700 stories nationwide in which EPA reviewed records from projects performed by companies working under contract to Lowe's.

Read more at Remodeling Magazine.