DEP public affairs fax cover sheet, August 2002

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

AUG-07-2002 16:01 NYC D.E.P. PUBLIC AFFAIRS P.03/04

BSHSSRELEASE Contact' Concerned Stuyvcsant Parents Paul L. Edwards, Media Committee, 212-254-1069 Auguust 7% 2002

ASBESTOS FOUND DURING S: lSAXT HIGH SCHOOL CLEANT’P Problems with lead tests also raise concern

NEW YORK —- Extremely high levels of asbestos have been found in the auditorium of Stuyvcsant High School. Tests of the carpeting reveal asbestos levels that are more than 250 times the normal background levels expected in New York City. The test results, which have not been released by the Stuyvcsant High School Parents’ Assn,, which paid for foe analysis, or foe Board of Education, were obtained by Concerned Stuyvesant Parents, an independent parents’ group. A thorough environmental cleanup of die ventilation systems at Stuyvcsant is now in progress, following the release in June of lead test data that showed the ducts and unit ventilators in the school were heavily contaminated with lead. However, a consultant under contract to foe Parents’ Assn, has indicated that some of foe follow-up testing now underway is being conducted improperly and should be repeated. Concerned Stuy\’esant Parents is particularly troubled by the finding of significant asbestos levels, considering foat the school underwent an asbestos abatement following foe September 11*^ collapse of foe World Trade Center and before students returned to class on October S'*. Using an ultrasonication test that is recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency, asbestos levels of as much as 2.5 million structures per square centimeter were found in one san^le. A second san^le revealed 60,000 structures/cn?. Although no formal EPA standard exists for this test, environmental experts generally consider any finding up to 10,000 structures/cm^ to be a normal background level. Readings up to 100,000 structures/cm^are considered cause for concern. And experts say foat levels found in excess of 100,000 structures/cm^ should be abated. Additionally, Howard Bader, foe consultant on retainer to the Patents’ Assn., has stated that on related WTC related projects, levels in excess of 10,000 are currently triggering abatement.

NYC-V\/TC_000144516