Law Department notice on WTC document preservation, Oct 2001

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

EPA officials told us that EPA’s WTC press releases issued during the weeks following September 11 were discussed in conference calls that included EPA officials, OSHA, and CEQ. Accordingly, the content of an EPA press release issued during this period could come from several different sources.

Few written records were available on the process used to prepare WTC press releases. We found draft versions for two of the press releases. However, the White House’s role in EPA’s public communications about WTC environmental conditions was described in a September 12,2001, e-mail from the EPA Deputy Administrator’s Chief of Staff to senior EPA officials:

All statements to the media should be cleared through the NSC [National Security Council] before they are released.

According to the EPA Chief of Staff, one particular CEQ official was designated to work with EPA to ensure that clearance was obtained through NSC. The Associate Administrator for the EPA Office of Communications, Education, and Media Relations (OCEMR)’ said that no press release could be issued for a 3- to 4-week period after September 11 without approval from the CEQ contact.

Although EPA’s position has been that WTC area residents should obtain “professional cleaning,’** EPA’s press releases did not instruct residents to do so. Instead they instructed residents to follow recommended and proper cleaning procedures and referred the public to the New York City Department of Health (NYCDOH) for recommended cleaning procedures. We asked the OCEMR Associate Administrator whether her office had considered advising the public through a press release that they needed to obtain professional cleaning for their indoor spaces. The Associate Administrator stated: “It was in a press release: it was removed by... [the CEQ contact].”

OCEMR’s records contained a document, entitled “PM FACT SHEET,” that discussed the health risk to “sensitive populations” from exposure to particulate matter. We asked the Associate Administrator whether she had considered putting any of this information in a press release. She said she had, but the CEQ official discouraged her from doing so. Her recollection was that he told her health effects information should not be included in EPA’s press releases, and that anything dealing with health effects should come from New York because they were on the ground and they were already dealing with it.

3 EPA’s Office of Communication, Education and Media Relations (OCEMR) issued the press releases. The OCEMR Associate Administrator left the Agency in December 2001 and OCEMR was renamed the Office of Public Affairs in July 2002. 4 In this context, professional cleaning refers to the use of a certified asbestos cleaner trained in the proper use of personal protective equipment and procedures to prevent re-contamination.

15 Report No. 2003-P-00012

NYC-WTC_000145535