EPA/NYC Indoor Air Approach Request to FEMA

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

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EPA/NYC Indoor Air Approach - Request to FEMA April 23.2002 (8:45AM)

Overarching Goal: To Develop an Action Plan which contains Near and Longer Term Components. This Action Plan is designed to support NYC residents and worker populations, so they may have confidence and protection regarding any potential significant increased health risks which might result from the exposure in their indoor environments on a long term basis to potential contaminants from the collapse of the WTC buildings and associated fires. Maintaining this confidence and protection willwith enable and enhance the economic revitalization of Lower Manhattan on an expedited basis. Near term actions will focus on confirming or refining, if appropriate, clean up techniques, removing any remaining debris/dust that may remain from the WTC collapse and offering clean up and post clean up sampling to residents.

Program Components:

A) Near-term: The goal of the near term program is to provide cleaning and sampling to residents of Lower Manhattan upon request where needed, to conductprovide additional indoor air sampling data for asbestos to evaluate qualitatively the effectiveness of clean up techniques, to provide confirmation of information on recommended clean up techniques, and to assure removal of any remaining debris/dust outside of WTC ground zero area which may still remain, thereby eliminating the potential for re-entrainment in the air..

Timing of Near Term Efforts: Begin by May 1 with EPA hotline for apartment cleaning requests. Duration of all efforts may continue through December depending upon public response.

1. Cleaning of Debris-Laden Unoccupied, Uncleaned Buildings

Objective: Now that debris removal from the immediate areas of destruction in the WTC complex is nearing completion, the remaining unoccupied, uncleaned buildings must be cleaned. This will prevent debris/dust from being re-entrained in air and/or recontaminating the nearby areas with debris/dust. Program: NYC will clean the remaining unoccupied (residential and commercial), uncleaned buildings near the WTC site that contain WTC-debris. NYC will work with building owners to determine reasons that these buildings have not been cleaned yet. If building owners are not able to expeditiously clean their property, NYC will proceed. Projected Cost: $20 million, based upon estimates approximately $2 million/building for 10 buildings. Inventory of buildings is being identified by NYC and may be decreased as a result of NYC’s efforts to get building owners to conduct clean up. Status of Request for FEMA mission assignment: Awaiting initial FEMA feedback

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