Law Department notice on WTC document preservation, Oct 2001

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

Some Asbestos Readings Exceeded Levels of Concern

Over 25 percent of the bulk dust samples that EPA had collected and analyzed by September 18 showed the presence of asbestos above the 1 percent threshold used by EPA to indicate significant risk. In addition. New York City used the 1 percent threshold to determine whether the removal of indoor dust was subject to its Asbestos Control Program regulation. The level of asbestos in dust was a concern because of the potential for the dust to be disturbed and become airborne, and thus inhaled. As noted above, this level is not a health-based standard and dust that contains less than 1 percent could pose a health risk. See Appendix F for results of EPA outdoor asbestos bulk testing.

EPA and the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYCDEP) conducted extensive ambient air monitoring for asbestos around Ground Zero and Lower Manhattan after September 11. This sampling was conducted at up to 60 sites and a total of almost 10,000 samples were analyzed using TEM. During the month of September 2001, EPA and New York City monitoring recorded 30 exceedences of the AHERA standard of 70 s/mm2. However, after September 2001 the number of AHERA exceedences decreased significantly. For the period October 2001 through May 2002, seven exceedences of the AHERA standard were recorded, as shown in Table 2-3.

Table 2-3. Ambient Asbestos Readings in Lower Manhattan In Excess of 70 s/mm2 Date Reading (s/mm2) Location *________ 10/09/01 104.99 Chambers Street 11/28/01 124.44 North Side of Stuyvesant High School 12/27/01 204.44 Albany and Greenwich 01/14/02 72.00 Pier 6 bus sign 02/05/02 88.00 Liberty and Trinity 02/11/02 213.33 Church and Dey 05/25/02 336.00 West Street (near Stuyvesant H.S.) ’ Excludes four exceedences at worker wash tent.

Council on Environmental Quality Influenced EPA Press Releases

Coordination and collaboration impacted the completeness of the information and the substance of the message EPA communicated to the public through its press releases. As a result of the White House CEQ’s influence, guidance for cleaning indoor spaces and information about the potential health effects from WTC debris were not included in EPA’s issued press releases. In addition, based on CEQ’s influence, reassuring information was added to at least one press release and cautionary information was deleted from EPA’s draft version of that press release.

14 Report No. 2003-P-00012

NYC-WTC_000145534