World Trade Center asbestos situation memorandum, December 2001

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

besides the use of large volumes of water. Proposed methods not specified in the asbestos NESHAP are routinely approved by the EPA regions through the variance process, which is initiated when the responsible party notifies EPA of the intent to commence a cleanup.

NEED FOR A SAFE CLEANUP TO PROTECT CITIZENS NOW AND LATER

Students and others unaware of exposures due to official claims of “no hazard”

Because of EPA’s official pronouncements that there is no asbestos hazard except right at Ground Zero, the following types of activities are taking place:

On Thanksgiving Day, National Public Radio’s Linda Wertheimer interviewed a group of 90 college students taking part in the "World Changers Thanksgiving Dust-Out" in New York City, part of the Southern Baptist Convention. This news broadcast may be found at www.npr.org/aichives.

The students were cleaning out evacuated apartments in the Gateway Complex near the World Trade Center fiom Thursday to Saturday. The windows had been blown out of the apartment, which faced Ground Zero. Dust was 3 inches thick inside the apartment with the students. The students were only wearing dust masks, not approved and grossly inadequate to filter out the ultra-fine hazardous asbestos particles.

Many of us tried to get action to get the young people out, but we failed due to the inaccessibility of officials over the holiday weekend and the failure to act by other officials.

Inadequate respiratory protection in violation of NESHAP standard recommended by NYC DOH

Simple dust masks were recommended by the New York City Department of Health (NYC DOH) for cleaning up homes and businesses, (www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/doh/html/alerts/wtc3.html.) However, this recommendation violates the NESHAP standards. As part of the standards, EPA published its recommendations for the proper use of respirators during any asbestos cleanup or abatement. These science-based recommendations were challenged in court by industries wanting more lenient standards, but remained intact. Only certain types of HEPA respirators are approved. Dust masks of any type are not approved, and deemed inadequate based on scientific studies. (EPA Publication No. 560-OPTS-86-001, A Guide to Respiratory Protection for the Asbestos Abatement Industry, not available on the internet as yet, but ordering information at no charge available at www.epa.gov/ncepihom.)

Unsafe cleanup methods recommended by NYC DOH, in violation of NESHAP

The NYC DOH recommendations state that you don’t even need to wear these inadequate dust masks to clean out residences and businesses if you just follow the cleanup methods in the recommendations. What are these NYC DOH cleanup methods that obviate even the need for a dusk mask, much less any other type of respiratory protection? They state that if curtains are

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