Law Department notice on WTC document preservation, Oct 2001

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

discussed in this report.” Within these two major areas, the Homeland Security plan lists several actions that were recommended in the February 2002 Lessons Learned Report as well as issues identified in this report.

OIG Observations for Improving Emergency Response Observations developed by our evaluation, as well as any Agency actions already underway to address these observations, are summarized in Table 7-2, and discussed in detail in the sections that follow.

Table 7-2: Summary of OIG Observations

Contingency Planning • Environmental Threats from Potential Terrorist Attacks Need to Be Assessed * Roles and Responsibilities Within EPA Need to Be Delineated • Roles and Responsibilities With Outside Agencies Need to Be Delineated Risk Assessment and Characterization • Health-Based Benchmarks Needed • Sampling and Data Collection Protocols Needed ♦ Monitoring Capabilities Need to Be Increased Risk Communication • Better Communication Policies. Procedures, and Guidance Needed • Risk Communications Need to Acknowledge Uncertainties • Procedures Needed to Ensure Consistency in Communications « Communications Need to Identify External Influences • Environmental Data from Sources Outside EPA Need to Be Addressed

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EPA has many years experience in responding to environmental emergencies and has established policies and procedures to deal with such emergencies. EPA’s Lessons Learned Report identified issues related to contingency planning and made recommendations for improvements in this area. Additionally, EPA’s Homeland Security strategy includes actions to address this area. Notably, the Agency has started efforts to upgrade the National Incident Coordination Team, which coordinates EPA’s response to large-scale emergencies. The events of September 11 demonstrate the following areas where the Agency’s emergency response mechanisms can be improved.

17 OIG has ongoing and planned work to evaluate EPA’s efforts related to the other major homeland security missions not addressed in this report.

57 Report No. 2003-P-00012

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