World Trade Center document custody notice, Law Department

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

hazardous materials from unremediated spaces to those already remediated.®^ As one downtown resident put it, “Indoor air quality is a touchy issue in our building. Converted in the late 197O’s, we have a primitive central air system that circulates air from apartment to apartment. Some people in our building hired professional cleaners. Others did it themselves.”®^ Therefore, tenants who may believe they are living in a “safe” environment because they have paid considerably for proper remediation, may well be living in recontaminated areas. It goes without saying that hazardous materials emitted from the World Trade Center that remain inside buildings in Lower Manhattan pose a potentially serious public health threat to residents, workers and visitors. This threat has been detailed in various government hearings and numerous press accounts by a wide array of pre-eminent public health experts.

The EPA’s Actions Violate Federal Law By allowing indoor air quality in residential and commercial buildings to be handled by the City of New York, and by not properly exercising its oversight authority, the EPA violated federal law. The EPA has the clear authority to respond to the release of hazardous substances that may present an imminent and substantial danger to public health. The National Contingency Plan (NCP), which is administered by the EPA and authorized by the Comprehensive Environment^ Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), is the federal plan for responding to such a release.®® The NCP lays out specific procedures and guidelines, including the designation of an On-Scene Coordinator (OSC) who is responsible for directing response efforts and coordinating all other efforts at the scene of a discharge or release.®^ The federal regulations make clear that the EPA has the authority to respond to the release of hazardous substances pursuant to the NCP. When asked why the City has taken die lead on indoor air, and how that decision was made, the EPA has stated that mission assignments were made by FEMA. The Letter from R. Radhakrishman (P.E., Director of NYC DEP’s Asbestos Control Program) to Building Owners, February 12,2002. Berger, Elizabeth (resident), “Testimony before the United States Senate Subcommittee on Clean Air, Wetlands, and Climate Change,” February 11,2002. 42 use 9604. The President is authorized to act: 1) Whenever (A) any hazardous substance is released or there is a substantial threat of such a release into the environment, or (B) there is a release or substantial threat of release into the environment of any pollutant or contaminant which may present an imminent and substantial danger to the public health or welfare, the President is authorized to act, consistent with the national contingency plan, to remove or arrange for the removal of, and provide for remedial action relating to such hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant at any time...or take any other response measure consistent with the national contingency plan which the President deems necessary to protect the public health or welfare or the environment. This authority is also cited in 40 CFR 300.130 (c). This authority is delegated to the EPA Administrator pursuant to Executive Order 12S80, later amended by Executive Order 12777. “ CERCLA is codified in Chapter 103 of Title 42 USC. The NCP is authorized in 42 USC 9604; 40 CFR 300. *■' 40 CFR 300.135 (a) *’ Whitman, Christine Todd, Letter to Congressman Jerrold Nadler, transmitted via fax February 22,2002.

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