US Senate letter regarding WTC environmental protection measures, August 2002

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

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“HEPA equipment was brought in five days later on either September 24 or 25,2001but that areas that were not cleaned with HEPA filter vacuum trucks “were not ‘redone’ until the second or third week in October 2001.” Purthennore, the EPA employee interviewed for the report indicates that “it was ‘around the Erst week in October 2001/ whan his managers learned from someone (name unknown) in EPA Region 2's Press Office that HEPA filter vacuum trucks had not been utilized during the first five days of the WTC cleanup.” The report goes on to indicate that management in Region 2 ordered the cleanup work to be redone in the areas that were not cleaned with HEPA filter vacuum trucks. As indicated above, however, this work was not completed until mid-October '2001.

hl light ofthe OIG’s report and its finding regarding the vacuum trucks used to dean ■ i streets and sidewalks around the World Trade Center ih the days following the September 11 attack, I would appreciate a response to the following questions so later than August 26,2002: I • Why were members of the public and New York's congressional delegation not notified about this incident? ' <

• Was a record of thia incident included in the “Lessons Learned” report issued by EPA in February 20027 If not, why not?

■ What, if any, increased exposures to asbestos resulted from the lack of HEPA filteis in the vacuum trucks used to clean streets and sideu-alks in Lower Manhattan in the days following September 11,2001?

• What, if any, other such instances is EPA aware of with resect to tile response to the events of September 11,2001, and what is being done to identify, report, and address such occurrences? « What procedures are in place or will be put in place by foe Agency to ensure that such lapses do not occur in the future? Once again, I want to ttejik you for everything you and others at your Agency have done to help in the recovery and rebuilding effort in Lower Manhattan. This is like nothing any of us has ever experienced before, and hopefully will ever have to experience again. i

Thank you for your attention to this important matter. I look forward to receiving your response, and to confinuing to work with you on this and otlier matters.

Sincerely yours, ■ (

lilU 6. ,/• Rodharo Clinlon I I

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