Memo on retention of WTC clean-up records, September 2003

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

As the Department of Environmental Protection has received a number of letters that raise issues that are related to the air quality in and around Stuyvesant High School, the goal of this letter is to respond to the various concerns that would include those presented in your individual letter.

This agency is one among a number of other City, State, and Federal agencies that has been addressing various air quality issues related to the tragedy at the World Trade Center site. DEP has been monitoring the outside ambient air for asbestos levels at the entrances to Stuyvesant High School, PSIS 89, PS 234 and the High School of Economics and Finance. We began monitoring at the schools on October 4, 2001, and are committed to continuing that monitoring for as long as needed. We are using the AHERA standard for an acceptable asbestos level inside a school as an outside air quality indicator. All of our results have been well below that standard of 70 structures/sq. mm. The Board of Education has taken the lead on conducting an extensive sampling program in and around each school. We are forwarding your e-mail to the Board to provide you with more information on their monitoring, clean-up efforts and on-going building maintenance efforts.

DEP has provided a great deal of input into the dust suppression protocol for debris removal and barge operation and our observations of the work efforts have shown great improvement since the work began. However, we will continue to follow-up on operations at ground zero and at the barges. We will forward any findings and recommendations to the appropriate Federal, State or local authority. We have asked the Department of Design and Construction, who are overseeing the work, to respond to you in more detail on the effectiveness of these measures.

DEP strongly supports the effort to have low sulfur fuel used at the site and the introduction of additional control technologies on both mobile and stationary equipment that is and will continue to be used at this site. We are asking the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to provide you with more details on the transition to this fuel and their efforts on reducing vehicle idling.

If you need any assistance in obtaining the requested information, please do not hesitate to contact Deputy-Commbisioner Robert Avaltroni at (718)595-1118.

NYC-WTC 000144554