Letter on mercury contamination spread by cleaning activities, Apr 1996

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document New York Daily News Online | News and Vie...t | Return of WTC Cars Hitss^&ft»^tg^aia3tSpy/www.nydailynews.coniZ2..._Views/City_Beat/a-144749.asp?last6days“l • t

A New Jersey company that examined seven cars estimated it would cost $3,600 to professionally clean each one.

The Department of Sanitation mailed letters to owners last month notifying them that they could pick up their vehicles starting today.

The letters came with a three-page tip sheet from the city Health Department explaining how to remove asbestos-tainted dust. The letters also told drivers they couldn't simply drive their vehicles away — and instead had to cover them with tarps and haul them away on flatbed trucks because of health concerns.

On Thursday, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-Manhattan), citing The News' findings, urged BPA chief Christie Whitman to invoke an emergency injunction against the city to stop the cars' release. On Friday, EPA officials asked city officials to meet with them before determining whether the cars should be returned.

The New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health, a coalition of public health advocates, argued yesterday that car owners shouldn't be asked — or trusted — to clean the vehicles.

"We are not at all sure that these cars can be cleaned to make them safe,” said committee spokesman Jonathan Bennett.

In December, then-city Health Commissioner Neal Cohen said the cars were so badly contaminated that they probably could not be returned. But after meeting with insurance companies and under threat of a class action lawsuit by irate owners, the city agreed to give them back.

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