DEP 59.17 Junction Blvd, 11th FL

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'2 feared at Trade Cente r site ■0 c o CT oX — o' "D 00 o o 5L o . No one is sure what happened to Ben Damsky of .the Electric center site and from the surround­ O ■ The 2 facilities ‘ the chemicals. Because the Envl- Power Research institute, a> re^i^ ing area have) so fah hbbn beldw o o ronme^taW-P Agency exposure levels showri to’ cause c wiire housed In 7< ■' sS' quickly;'hadi'.iiili/yfaUr. and other search consortium composed^ largely of utility operators, saidjg cancer in anirnals. A Sept 14 test 3 Q P-'WWldiTftde''''. ‘ 'f liquids puiriped 'Trom ‘ manholes there was nothing unusual abound of rain water showed .slightly^ 3

and basements ,ht.the trade center the Chemicals in the substations. higher than normal PCBs. « building site, some oAthe pollutants al­ Battery banks containing sulfurifc ’ In addition to air monitoring, that stood and ready may Have been cleaned Up. Sorine may have , burned, al­ acid are essential in any . sizable^ EPA has tested dust for PCBs on surfaces at two sites.. Eight.,sam- substation? Another of the hazard'^’' collapsed in the though officials believe that is un­ bus ‘Chemicals, sulfur , hexafluo-" ples have beenj taken from nearby Twin Towers* likely. Con Ed knows its trans­ ride,' is ’Often iused, as an .insulator * Stuyvesant High School and Man­ formers, and the oil in them, When space iS-at a premium. , hattan Community College. None shadows survived the worst of the trade “Con Ed is a?very alert and con­ showed PCB contamination. center fires because the trans­ scientious and concerned utility,”! EPA has not done soil tests fot formers were working until 7 Damsky Said. “They ate on top off 'P.CBs. By SHARON L. CRENSON WTC collapsedi ; i i , / things,’’^ . Dayld Higby of Environmental 5 associated: PRESS .. A third possibility'; is that’the Advocates, a New York State eh*® The, matter is'a hot bUttori ’beMS chemicals .leaked into soil, cause of public fears about PCBs, vironmental group, thinks that it^ When the .World Trade Center, groundwater; and underground in- should. “At some point,” he said) crumbled, tiie Spotlight was on iti ; or polychlorinated biphenyls, a, two majestic towers, not on 7 frastructure, aCcording to the En­ cancer-causing compound used a§' “those PCBs are going to come to^g vironmental A Protection Agency a fire retardant in the lubricating rest in soil.” World'Trade Center — a building that stbpd^ud collapsed in their ? and Con Ed. and insulating oil of electrical Thfe EPA also has not run test^f shadows?'";’ ' The red granite edifice of 7 equipment built before 1977. * for sulfuric acid and sulfur hexa^g World Trade Center, once con­ The newer of Con Ed’s two trade'* fluoride. The! substations cor^, ■ But 7 WTC was toxiCi; nected to the twin lowers by tW6; tained about 338 gallons of sulfq? It housed two electrical substa- center'substationSfWas considered’* slender footbridges, tumbled td' virtually PCB-free. but the older ric acid and 3B0 pounds of sulfur^, tion^ owned , by Con Edison. Arid the ground in a Chain reaction sev­ one ; contained' oil: with trace'• hexafluoride, according to thgg they'Coritairied ;lQ9jQ00 gallons of 1‘ eral hours after suicide hijackers amounts?^ up to 50 pairta per mil'-” utility. oil and hundreds of pounds of po- i "io* crashed into the towers. The''at­ IkriaccbrdingSto: the: utility’s The agency iid recover two in» tentially;,dangerous' chemicals set' tacks sent flaming debris hail^g tact 9-by-52-ineh cylinders labeled lriose^^riWuiidih^^ell;’ erivironipehtal rep^lSiZ-oh down on nearby’buildings, ignitirv UndiervEPA regulations, thatvJ sulfur hexafludride. However, nek, clnogeii,l^nd larger quantities rif 7 W’rC in' ari iUnStoppable bla^. rato isn’t high enoughto be a haz-j3 Iher the EPA r or Con Ed was able” thiB^ ^ieyrili^' ft, The collapse ' ard However, some environment to say If that accounts sulfurio;dcld;'apossibl6carcino- the chemical that had been at thm, i crushed electrical equipment talfets say even tiny amounts of geh andrespiratoryirritant, Were BcBs can cause harm. Unleashed'^ site, Sulfur hexafluoride is sus- amongthehazardsi : ? ,i within. i. t . I pected of causing neurologiCal^q ' The two destroyed substations in (he environment, the chemical^? Detailsabputsome’of the poliu* gradually accumulate in the fat problems in humans, according t(^ tanti ate coiitairied in reports Con — one-story high and running roughly one-third the length of a 'fish and animals and then.mOveupc the environmental nonprofit, En-,. Ed rhisdrilo the state Department the food chain to people. People’® vlrOrimental Defense. of Environmental Conservation city block — housed nine trans­ who are exposed to too much cam” r ,ni beginnitlg Sept. 11. The Associated formers'used to reduce high-volt­ ■■ On"'the Nett jEnvIronmental ProteotioA'l" age electricl^'to the.lower levels^ develop cancer. A Agency: vww.efM.gov Pressrecentiy obtained thedocu- EPA measurements of airborne , Ertvfronmar.tOriehse: www.envIropmentali^B mentsSfrbril Con Ed., required by ordinary office and?, ABtansn nm—--------- . . residential buildings. PCBs within the 16-acre trade

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