World Trade Center document custody notice, Law Department

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

winning environmental journalist) chaiges “the USGS data was not released by the EPA nor apparently were lhe environmental agency’s own test results on the dust.” The EPA claims to have released this data to die public, but when Schneider reviewed all of the EPA’s statements made since 9/11, he found nothing that warned of these high pH levels. According to the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH), such dust “once it’s in contact with moist tissue - die throat, the mouth, nasal passages, the eyes and even sweaty skin - it becomes corrosive and can cause severe bums.”^®

The EPA Passes the Buck to the City The EPA allowed the City of New York to handle indoor air quality. The City, in turn, placed the burden for indoor air matters (testing and remediation) on individual building owners for indoor public spaces, and on tenants for indoor private spaces. The City provided little enforcement with respect to indoor public spaces, r» enforcement with respect to indoor private spaces, and gave improper advice regarding hazardous materials testing and remediation. As was previously mentioned, it first became clear to die public in mid-January, 2002 that the EPA had allowed the City of New York to handle indoor air quality. An EPA spokesperson stated, on January 11, that “.. .indoor air is beyond EPA’s jurisdiction.”®^ An EPA Region n spokesperson went a step further later in January and stated the EPA had taken no responsibility for indoor air quality and was, in fact, satisfied by the City’s work. That spokesperson stated, "The EPA's job was to monitor outdoor air. Monitoring indoors—that wasn't our job. That's what the city took care of" According to the article, she added "that she felt the city did a good job of testing and monitoring indoor air.'®’ However, the City of New York has demonstrated that it also has not done the job properly. At a Senate Subcommittee field hearing on February 11,2(M)2, New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYC DEP) Commissioner Joel Miele admitted that, although the City had taken the lead on indoor air, it actually placed the burden for testing and remediating indoor spaces on the landlords and property owners, as it did not really have die capacity to handle the job because it is primarily a “water and sewer agency.’^* The City has made very litde effort to ensure that such testing or remediation

Schneider, Andrew, “Public Was Never Told That Dust from Ruins is Dangerously Caustic,” St. Louis Post Dispatch, February 10,2002. Also see asbestos effects noted in USEPA Federal Register, Vol 51, No. 19; 1/29/86; Asbestos Proposed Mining Restrictions and Proposed Manufacturing, Importation and Processing Prohibitions. See above Schneider, Andrew, “NY Officials Underestimate Danger” and EPA Region n Press Release “EPA Statement.” “ Lyman, Francesca, “Yearning to Breathe in a Toxic Zone: Four Months on, WTC Attacks Still Haunting New Yorkers - And Their Health,” MSNBC, January 11,2002. Rogers, Josh, "Nadler says EPA is Passing the Buck Downtown,” Downtown Express, January 22,2001. Miele, Joel (Commissioner, NYC DEP) “Testimony before the United States Senate Subcommittee on Clean Air, Wetlands, and Climate Change,” February 11, 2002. Remark made during the question and answer period.

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