Law Department notice on WTC document preservation, Oct 2001

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

Appendix B

Details on Scope and Methodology Objective 1 Did the available monitoring data and analyses of that data support EPA’s major public communications regarding air quality and associated health risks resulting from the collapse of the WTC towers?

We requested all data and correspondence used to support “major” EPA pronouncements regarding air quality. We defined “major” as press releases, testimony, television, and other public appearances. This effort primarily focused on, but was not limited to, data collected and pronouncements made during the period September 2001 through December 2001. The data we reviewed included “Daily Summary Sheets” prepared by EPA staff, and the raw data sheets that showed the results of air and dust samples and were the basis for the daily summaries. In addition, we obtained access to the “New York City Response” database maintained by EPA’s Office of Environmental Information and downloaded selected data from the database and compared it to the raw data sheets. We also reviewed monitoring results from other organizations, including:

• New York State Department of Conservation • New York City Department of Environmental Protection • National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health • New York City Board of Education • Operating Engineers National Hazmat Program • New York State Public Employees Safety and Health Bureau • U.S. Geological Survey • Occupational Safety and Health Administration • DELTA Group • New York University • Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute • ConEd • Turner Construction

We interviewed Region 2 officials to determine their views on what monitoring data showed and the messages conveyed by EPA press releases. In addition, we interviewed EPA officials within the Office of Research and Development, Office of Air and Radiation, and Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. We also interviewed officials outside EPA to obtain their views on EPA’s statements about air quality and the support for these statements. These interviews included officials and researchers fi-om OSHA, FEMA, NYCDOH, NYCDEP, the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York University, the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute, and the DELTA Group.

73 Report No. 2003-P-00012

NYC-WTC_000145428