EPA letter regarding benzene monitoring and sampling context, Oct 2001

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document \) arly ews (o(3;]04 EPA’s on top of Ground Zero case By CHRISTIE WHITMAN hose of us in government and the I media share an obligation to pro- vide members of the public, in a re- sponsible and calm manner, with the in- formation they need to protect them- selves and their families from any envi- ronmental hazards that may result from the attacks on the World Trade Center. The Environmental Protection Agency has been working since Sept. 11 to make such information available in a complete and timely fashion. It also is important that this informa- tion be put into context so information that may be unfamiliar by itself can be better understood. For example, a Friday Daily News article, “Toxic Zone,” focused on a small number of sampling results with the highest contaminant readings, but it did not also report that EPA has tak- en thousands of samples that did not ex- ceed federal standards or guidelines. Absent that context, the public could understandably conclude that the situa- tion at Ground Zero presents a major en- vironmental health hazard to area resi- dents and employees. That would be inac- ate, as your Saturday article “City, is say WTC air’s OK” made clear. | The situation with benzene illustrates NYC-WTC_000142155 the nature of our monitoring and how we analyze the test results. Benzene is a pol- lutant that is being released from the di- saster site as a result of ongoing fircs, and EPA’s primary goal is to determine whether the workers at Ground Zero are being exposed to unsafe levels. The data also give us an indicafion of the potential. for benzene to migrate from the site at un- safe concentrations. To identify the highest concentrations of benzene, EPA places extended probes in the debris pile where a smoke plume is sighted. These are the areas where we find the higher readings highlighted in The News’ Friday article. EPA has consistently said elevated lev- els of benzene and other contaminants at Ground Zero are a concern. This is why from the beginning we’ve strongly recom- mended that workers wear respirators and other protective gear and have pro- vided this equipment im the thousands. Respirators, when used properly, protect workers from exposure to contaminants. Fortunately, EPA has more consistently found low levels of contaminants in the “breathing zone” — 5 to 7 feet above the debris pile — and undetectable levels away from the work site. _ EPA also fF is collected and analyzed more than 1,307 air samples for asbestos sirce Sept. 11. Only 28 were above the As- bestos Hazard Emergency Response Act standard, and 27 of those were samples collected before Sept. 30. Of course, individual samples repre- sent only a snapshot at a moment in time, not the environmental conditions that would determine whether federal stan- dards have been exceeded. Most health standards set by EPA and the Occupation- al Safety and Health Administration are based on exposure periods that cover any- where from an eight-hour work day for occupational exposure to 30 years. EPA is, however, taking the most con- servative approach in assessing samples by evaluating results against strict stan- dards. We’re working with the appropri- ate health agencies to make recommenda- tions that protect workers and the public. Finally, EPA has made and continues to make information available to the public. We continue to update our Web site daily, presenting summaries of all environmen- tal findings, including results that exceed federal standards. We also are making da- ta available in a public information repos- itory in our lower Manhattan offices. e people of New York deserve all the information available in as useful and complete a form as possible. Whitman is the administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.