EPA memorandum on carpet asbestos testing, June 2002

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

1 X ».

scopes dont reveal. The EPA's experience with its own New York building illustrated the distinction. Just days after Septi 1, EPA officials in tower Manhattan had their building lobby at 290 Broadway decontaminated after tests using an electron scope turned up particles of asbestos. Tests by a light scope had failed to turn up anything.

Owners of many large commercial buildings have done thorough cleanups followed by state-of- the-art testing, according to outside firms doing much of this work. But owners of many smaller buildings have cut corners, according to the environmental firms.

Some residents who have arranged for their own tests using electron scopes have found asbestos missed by light testing. At 150 Franklin St, a seven-story cooperatively owned building several blocks north of the disaster site, residents each vacuumed and wiped down their apartments, following the city's guidelines. They also swept the roof and other common areas. Still, electron-scope testing last month found asbestos levels of between 1.2% and 1.8% of sampled material. One sample was taken from a third-floor elevator shaft, near a day-care center. Similar levels were found at two locations on the building's roof. Medical experts say there isn't a "safe* level of the substance, but the federal government requires asbestos removal from work sites if the level exceeds 1%. After receiving the test results on April 15, the New York Environmental Law and Justice Project, a tenants-rights group assisting residents at 150 Franklin St., notified city authorities. The city found no asbestos when it tested the building using light scopes. But EPA officials agreed, in this case, to retest the city's samples. Using an electron scope, the federal agency said it found asbestos exceeding 1%.

55. EPA Region 1 uses K-factors in asbestos risk assessments. As discussed in tbe preceding memorandum, however, the values Region 1 inserted into the K-fector risk assessment formula were questionable for its year 2000 Brookfield, Connecticut School System risk assessment.

US EPA (November 1,2000), op. cit. 56. Millette, J. R., and Hays, S. M. (1994) Chapter 8. Resuspension of Settled Dust. In: Settled Dust Sampling and Analysis, Lewis Publishers, CRC Press. 57. U.S. EPA (August, 2001) Integrated Risk Management Information System (IRIS) Summary for Asbestos, posted at http://www.epa.gov/iris/subst/0371 .htm

58. U.S. EPA (August, 2001), op. cit.

-39-

NYC-WTC_000140077