World Trade Center environmental data report, 2001-2002

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

First there was the plume created by the initial fire that rose to 1000 degrees C. that sent up a mushroom cloud of some 91,000 liters of exploding jet fuel containing benzene and other toxic chemicals as well as billowing smoke.

Then there was the downward implosion of the building, which shook and toppled nearby structures and spread pulverized cement, glass and other dust for miles in a widely dispersed pattern.

Finally, heated by an intense fire, which was propelled by 180,00 gallons of fuel, the massive buildings became an incinerator that rendered building materials that would not be considered immediately hazardous into flying toxins—volatilized combustion products.

There may be no way to know the exact composition of all the building materials at the WTC site, but some of the major hazards are known, including 2,000 tons of asbestos used in its construction, and countless fiberglass and Freon refrigerants used in air conditioning systems.

There was an estimated 424,000 tons of concrete, sheet rock, gypsum, fiberglass, and glass; that doesn’t count everything inside the buildings—an estimated 50,000 personal computers each containing some 4 pounds of lead (adding up to some 200,000 pounds of lead alone); glass, PCBs; mercury from light bulbs and computer parts; 130,000 gallons of transformer oil. The Natural Resources Defense Council, in its report on the environmental impacts of the WTC disaster, called it “an unprecedented environmental assault for lower Manhattan,” involving thousands of toxic components released simultaneously that constituted a “pollution event.” (4)

On Sept. 11, few recognized how profound the implications of these disasters would be on environmental health, even as many federal, state and local agencies and organizations moved rapidly to aid in response and recovery efforts. (5)

Later, Revella and other local rescuers would learn that the heat and energy that led to the subsequent collapse of the buildings created the force of an earthquake totaling 2 on the Richter scale, as a million tons of steel, concrete and plastic were pulverized and imploded downward like a volcanic eruption spewing dust and debris. (6) (Somewhere in there, too, Revella was to learn, he’d suffer two ruptured disks, in addition to surviving a piece of steel jammed into one of his feet! In the process of surviving the explosion, he received two shots with cortisone.) All this, he says, hasn’t kept him from missing a day of work in 26 years on the force.

But that was the least of his efforts that traumatic day. Having escaped the collapse of three buildings, hours and hours later, he would go on to don his main “hat” and commitment and responsibility—as an environmental specialist.

In that role, Revella helped to coordinate the health and safety response to the crisis with the city’s Office of Emergency Management and other agencies, including the city Department of Health. From day one, Revella would help enlist the aid of ironworkers at the debris piles and set up systems for addressing environmental concerns—air monitoring, removing dust and debris, and reopening a closed landfill to hold wastes.

"Terry Revella was, and is, a passionate advocate for safety and health and the environment,” says Kelly McKinney, Associate Commissioner for Regulatory and Environmental Health Services for the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, describing how his team of first responders was indeed first on the scene addressing environmental health on September 11.

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