Law Department notice on WTC document preservation, Oct 2001

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

We also reviewed available correspondence and documentation related to the preparation of the EPA press releases. Further, we interviewed principal EPA officials involved in the preparation of press releases, including the EPA Associate Administrator for OCEMR, the Associate Administrator for the Office of Public Affairs (formerly OCEMR), the EPA Administrator’s former Chief of Staff, and the Region 2 Communications Division Director.

Limitations: Our review of the process and the support for information in EPA press releases on air quality was limited since CEQ officials declined to meet with us to discuss their role in the preparation of press releases. Our written request for an interview was declined by a White House legal counselor, who noted there were “institutional concerns about interviewing White House employees.” Further, there was a lack of documentation in general regarding preparation of press releases. We only found documentation regarding the preparation of two of six press releases issued during the period September 12,2001, through October 3,2001. This documentation included a draft copy of the EPA press release issued on September 16; a single e-mail about this draft press release from CEQ; and a draft copy of the September 13 EPA press release.

Objective 2. Were EPA actions and decisions in regard to evaluating, mitigating, and controlling risks to human health from exposure to indoor air pollutants in the WTC area consistont with applicable statutes, regulations, policies, guidance, and practice?

We reviewed applicable laws, regulations, and guidance related to emergency responses, including CERCLA (Superfund) and implementing regulations, and the FRP. We also reviewed EPA’s authority to test and clean indoor spaces, and the applicability of this authority to the WTC response. We interviewed EPA and FEMA officials about the applicability and requirements of these statutes. We also identified EPA and other government actions taken in response to other disasters to compare prior indoor responses to the WTC indoor response.

We identified and reviewed reports of indoor testing conducted by both government and non-govemment entities. This included indoor air and dust testing conducted by EPA, ATSDR, contractors for the General Services Administration, consultants for the Ground Zero Task Force, and an environmental firm hired by one of the debris removal construction companies.

We also interviewed officials both within and outside the government to determine their views regarding the extent of indoor contamination and the adequacy of the government’s response.

74 Report No. 2003-P-00012

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