Law Department notice on WTC document preservation, Oct 2001

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

• identifying contaminants of potential concern resulting from the WTC attack, • conducting a confirmation cleaning study to evaluate the effectiveness of various cleaning techniques in achieving health-based benchmarks. • conducting a study of Upper Manhattan to determine background (normal) levels of contaminants. • inspecting and cleaning building exteriors in Lower Manhattan. • cleaning two unoccupied residential buildings.

The indoor residential cleanup program was administered by EPA and New York City. FEMA officials told us that they normally do not fund indoor cleanups of private spaces related to a disaster unless an immediate hazard is declared. FEMA officials told us that New York City officials indicated a formal cleanup program was not needed. Therefore, in May 2002, the EPA Region 2 Administrator provided FEMA with a memorandum that furnished the necessary justification to authorize funding.

Public registration for the testing and cleaning program ended on December 28, 2002. As of July 17, 2003, EPA had reported the following test results.

Table 6-1: Test Results for Indoor Asbestos Testing as of July 17,2003

Residences Typsof Total Tests Residences Not Not Results Request Requests- Gompteted Cleared’ Determined » Pending'’ Test Only 730 729 691 8 30 1 Clean and Test 3,436 3,425 3,256 36 133 11 Notes 1 = Ambient levels were below the clearance standard of .0009 fibers per cubic centimeter (flee). 2 = Ambient levels were above the clearance standard of .0009 f/cc. 3 = Samples could not be analyzed because of overloaded fitters or other reasons. Re-testing to be performed. 4 = Testing not begun or results not yet analyzed.

Residents could choose to have “testing only” of their residence or they could choose to have “Cleaning and post-cleaning testing” of their residence. Residents requesting to only have their residence tested could choose between one of two sampling options: aggressive sampling or modified aggressive sampling. Aggressive sampling used a leafblower to stir up any settled dust by blowing air against walls, ceilings, floors, and other surfaces prior to collection of air samples. Modified aggressive sampling did not use leaf blowers. For either sampling option, the air samples were to be analyzed for asbestos only. In addition to testing indoor air for asbestos, EPA planned to collect pre- and post-cleaning wipe samples for a limited number of residences (approximately 250) and test these samples for dioxin, total metals, and mercury.

For residents requesting “cleaning and post-cleaning testing,” two approaches were used to clean the residences. The cleaning approach was based on the extent

48 Report No. 2003-P-00012

NYC-WTC_000145568