World Trade Center environmental data report, 2001-2002

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

used to, which was no more than an hour at a time. “We all have post traumatic stress,” says Todd, who still gets flashbacks of bodies falling to the ground, or people walking out of buildings with their skin peeled back. “But now everyone is moving on. I have a chance to start anew. I’m still on a cane, but hopefully by next fall I won’t be.”

Does Todd have hard feelings toward the city? “No, they did the best they could under the circumstances,” she says. But she regrets health officials kept them in the dark about dangers. “They kept a lot from people because they didn’t want to scare us—but we were distrustful because either there was stuff they weren’t telling us or they didn’t know.” She regrets not hearing about serious contaminants like merciuy and lead until too late.

Reassuring residents When the attack on the WTC caused the buildings to begin collapsing, federal, state and local officials all began monitoring the air to check the dust and smoke for dangerous substances, as this report describes. But just how good was the environmental health information that agencies accrued and gave to people after the terrorist attacks?

Within a few weeks after the incident, with the WTC still in a raging fire, many people living in the neighborhoods surrounding Groimd Zero were fearful about asbestos and other toxins that might be in the smoke and air they were breathing. Asbestos, fiberglass, benzene, dioxins. Freon, PCBs and heavy metals were just a few of the toxicants residents were concerned about. Some even debated whether the whole area should be designated a Superfund site, based on the volume of debris and particulates in the air. (1) Months later, the levels of asbestos in dust would be described as higher than that in Libby, Montana, a federal Superfund site.

EPA’s then-Administrator Christie Whitman said, “Given the scope of the tragedy from last week, I am glad to reassure the people of New York and Washington, D.C., that their air is safe to breathe and their water is safe to drink.”

Yet health and environmental officials had quickly allayed initial concerns about the safety of the air around the World Trade Center site, as mentioned. On September 16, only several days after the events. Mayor Rudy Giuliani and EPA’s then-administrator Christie Whitman gave residents and office workers the “all clear” sign that the environment was safe.

The day of the disaster, within hours, as the last chapter details, local, state and federal environmental officials began testing the air, water and dust. After several days, the federal EPA proclaimed the environment basically “safe,” at least outside the immediately affected area.

EPA’s Christie Whitman said, “Given the scope of the tragedy from last week, I am glad to reassure the people of New York and Washington, D.C., that their air is safe to breathe and their water is safe to drink.” New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani has said that tests of air and water have turned up “no significant problems.”

Nevertheless, word was leaking out that conditions in and aroimd the site were still hazardous. Some were convinced that the area contained potent hazards.

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