EPA memorandum regarding asbestos reservoir, June 2002

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

EPA REGION 2 BENCHMARK OF 1% ASBESTOS IN WTC DUST

Unfortunately, the different EPA regions are autonomous in many ways, and are free to set health standards to meet the needs of individual situations. There is no oversight or control by the experts in EPA’s Headquarters or other centers of technical excellence, such as EPA’s Office of Research and Development satellite campuses in Cincinnati and Research Triangle Park. Thus, the unilateral setting of an incorrect health standard in direct conflict with EPA regulations, statutes, and precedents by perhaps one lone toxicologist at an isolated regional office is not uncommon.

The preceding section described Region I's actions in the case of the Brookfield School System, setting an asbestos dust benchmark of45,000 s/cm^. This section will describe what Region 2 did in setting a completely different, but also false, unsupported health standard for asbestos dust after the collapse of the World Trade Center (WTC). The Region 2 asbestos dust benchmark is 1%. The NYC Department of Environmental Protection (NYC DEP) also decided to set their benchmark at 1% asbestos. It is obvious that the Region 1 and Region 2 benchmarks are quite different from each other. This fact alone demonstrates that there is no consistency between health standards set by the different EPA regions.

The following statements are made at the EPA web site relating to the WTC disaster.'*” Region 2 clearly states that 1% is the “level of concern for health.”

If a substance contains 1% or more asbestos, it is considered to be an "asbestos-containing material." EPA is using the 1% definition in evaluating dust samples from in and around ground zero and other areas potentially impacted by the World Trade Center collapse. The majority of areas in which EPA has found levels of asbestos in dust above 1% are in the vicinity of the World Trade Center work zone. Daily summaries of this data and how it compares to the level of concern for health are also available, [emphasis added]

In Dust. If a substance contains 1% or more asbestos, it is considered to be an "asbestos-containing material." There are federal regulations in place to ensure the proper handling and disposal of asbestos-containing material. If a substance contains less than 1% asbestos, these regulations do not apply.

EPA is using the 1% definition in evaluating dust samples from in and around ground zero. The vast majority of the samples taken to date have levels of asbestos below 1%. In fact, in an urban environment like New York City, we can expect the presence of a low level of asbestos under normal circumstances (these low everyday levels are called "background levels").

Counsel for Region 2 supported the choice of this benchmark by claiming that only asbestos over 1% was “significant”

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