News article about recovery and commemoration, Sept 2002

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

Few of Those Eligible Raster For Cleanup Help Near 9/11 Site By KIRK JOHNSON the agency would go along with any WASHINGTON, Sept 24 - With decision to ^tOTd the sign-up period just a week left to sign up, only about . officials decided that more a quarter of the New York City resi- necessary. dents eligible to have their apart- The commissioner of the city’s De­ ments tested and cleaned to remove Partment of Environmental Protec­ leftover World Trade Center dust don, Christopher 0. Ward, noted that have registered, federal environ- calls to the E^JL^ hot line were mental officials said today. dechning, but that the city was com- They said that many residents per-“‘ded to seeking fuU participation in haps deemed the cleanup unneces- die cleanup program. He said that sary, and that some might have been city would discuss with FEMA discouraged by reports of fraudulent“6 possibility of expanding the cleanup contractors posing as gov- cleanup program to include busi- ernment representatives. nesses. But the biggest problem may be „ About 20,000 apmments south-of that many people still do not know Canal, Allen and Pike Streets m Low- that the offer even exists. The first Manhattan are covered by the free cleanup and air-sampling work Residents may register by call- <”8 die E.P.A. at (877) 796-5471 or by with contractors in the field started mi Sept. 12, two months behind sched- signing on to www.epa.gov/wtc. ole. In signing up, residents are given “One of the things we’re finding is options: for a cleaning and test- that when we go in to clean up, other or a testing only. people see us in the building cleaning As of today, 3,633 residents have up and then come forward,” said the registered for a clean-and-test, and Environmental Protection Agency’s 1.031 for a testing only, said a spokes- adminlstrator, Christie Whitman, in man for the E.P.A. Most of the apart- testifying before the Senate’s Com- ments are to be tested only for asbes- mittee on Environment and Public tos, but 250 of those initial apart- wnrifg nhniit hor agpnpy’s rosponag ments Will also receive a broader to the terrorist attack. spectrum of tests for dioxins, heavy Mrs. Whitman told the panel thatmetals and other pollutants under a she was interested in pushing the separate pilot program. ‘ t sign-up period — which was already The Environmental Protection extended once, by 30 days—past the Agency spokesman, Richard Staple- Oct. 3 deadline. But because of the ton, said that a decision on whether complex chain of responsibility over to expand the testing menu would be indoor air, she said, the decision made on the basis of those initial 250 would have to be approved by the apartments, but that results were not Federal Emergency Management yet available. Of the 80 asbestos-only Agency, which is paying for the • apartment tests so far, he said, 2 cleanups, and the City of New York, contained asbestos in levels that sug- A spokesman for FEMA said that gested a need for further cleanup.

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