News article re: WTC contamination cleanup standards, 2001-2002

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document Mr. .Innis laiiilkird al .51) Bidlei-.v 1’1,-irr. 11 IC I )c Mu 11 cis tirgaiiizaijim. sa.vs through ;i siicRcsniiiii Hull ii told leii,Tilts ic hire . NNpar Irade Center, iiiciruwiicliTiiKT'Siuidsiilimil bilks id-pcs means While oneapartment ..may .-he cleaned;'.^ nearby elevator.shaft dr unit sihic l eimbiii'senitTil by llivowner .siih-Tir. next-'doOT'inaynoticreatingthe possibil­ Stark Di^^rities iiiii-c company. Dnl.v a lianilful-Mr. .lain i.SJi 1 among Iheni-liiivc siibinitled .such ity of recohtamination. The agency will clean hallways and .lobbies only .iif -asked Emerge in Cleanups bilks, the .spokesman .sa.v.s. Tlid.se rJaim;: are still Iteiug sorted oui. by a latt^rd; The-EPAsisn't offering to clean spa^l businessestor. schools, t l-'ublic-health experts say Ihul. so lur. they hJiven’i ideiilified any huig-icfin se- & far, residents tiny 3,3to^paft-‘'.. newsroom .diredtOr».tlrg'diidOpendent Lax Government Leadership than,10% of these As^iafjon' of, Publishe«VEm^oyees, j'unis healUi risks ITuin Hie Hisasler. Bill ehpble-have asked for EPArhelp. Mr.; says; “Peqile have been M^ured by the Leaves Some Residences Ibni view assumes eH'cclive uukU«>r and -■ Jmn is one of those, but he worries his -'results of the testing on ourown space so indoor cleuiiupstii asbestos and other ho;- With Asbestos Concerns ins. And while he.’ilth studies conlimie. building won’t get a thorough overall far,'but they remain wary-about condi- Ireatment. “We should be getting a ........... building' and in tions.'elsewhere in our ’ ..... Ilir experts stress they don'l kiii"'. yci proper asbestos cleanup like the corpo- neighboring buildings.” Melissa Coley, a ini'll III im.li' 'til. Ciiliini" ' Companies Spend to Refurbish '■i-ate tenants are getting,” he says. spokeswoman for,'Brookfield Properties Continued From First Payc In addition to American Express, com- Corp., owner of the Dow Jones building, By Motoko Rich whether the combination of substances , Panies such as Merrill Lynch & Co., Bank says, “We have directly addressed the produced by the unprecedented calamity of New York Co., Royal Bank of Canada concerns of all of our tenants and con­ And Susan Warren will cause illnesses in the future. "Wei -Iones & Co., publisher of this tinue to monitor the air quality in our just don’t know, but if you don’t .get! newspaper,'say they have cleaned and , buildings.” NEW YORK-ln the eight months thai Ibuildings] cleaned, obviously there will '- tested extensively. The potentially dan- . lb protect against asbestos or other Steve Stewart and his 4,000 colleagues at be a higher probability” of long-term. substance of greatest concern is- toxins that might be lingering- in; the American Express Co. were exiled from risk, says Paul J. Lioy, associate director; ' asbestos, a fibrous material used in fire downtown air, Brookfield, which also their offices after Sept. 11, a' lot was go­ ing on in the company’s headquarters of the Environmental and Occupational ; .. across the street from the World Trade Health Sciences Institute, which.is.sup­ Center site. Cleaners vacuumed thick lay­ ported by the University of Medicine and ers of dust and debris that had blown into Dentistry of New Jersey and Rutgers Uni­ The main blame foFthe helter-skelter indoor the 51-story tower through shattered win­ versity. He is working on a study of rest- , 1 pJ .;•-•»« ■, dows. Specialists tested for 120 contami­ dents near Ground Zero. - Cleanup Of downtown Manhattan Cah be traced nants,-including asbestos, lead and mer­ Free-for-Au - to the shuffling of responsibility among\ cury. Mr. Stewart returned in June to a pristineoffice, with,a new chair, tan-a triangular area at the.island’s —:---- ,------- ,_____ _ ______ _______________ _____________ .-- - ■. computerand gray- soulhern.end where'200,000.people live- ,- '........................ ' i ' a" * ' andrbliieicarpeting. and work- can be traced to the shiiffling'’';!-Tdt^aht in the Trade Center that can' owns the lower housing RBC Capital Mar- American’Express, of responsibility among government"." cause lung disease and cancer if there is kets, says it installed filter systems to the ,;j2-year-old man- fl agencies. In the days after Sept. H, the exposure for a period of years. Others block more than 95% of particles measur- ager .says, "did v Federa! ’ Emergency Management” include pulverized cement and glass,. Ing one micron or larger. The same was what it needed to Agency assigned the EPA to monitor .out" .whichcan cause respiratory problems, done-at many other large.coinmercial do to alleviate peo- door air, clear'debris and dust and'han" and dead and ^mercury from incinerated buildings in the vicinity. Before Septi 11, ple’s fears.” , die hazardous waste removed ’from the L coinpiiters and lighting, which can cause ’ the’ standard'for-corporate 'offices'was ’ A few blocks S disaster site. New York City assumed con-, nervous-system damage. between 60% and 85%. away,', Sudhir Jain | trol over indoor areas, including apart-;' ITo eliminate asbestos, big companies By contrast, at Stuyvesant High had, a*different ex­ Steve Stewart ments. But the city’s Department of Envi- haye stripped out carpets, cubicle walls, School, four blocks north of Ground Zero, perience. ' The ronmental Protection delegated’ to land-,,. ceiling tiles'and upholstered furniture. the Nevt York City Department of Educa- ■fr'felance' technol- lords and residents the job of .actually t-American--Express says it threw- out tion upgraded classrwtm filters to block 0^ consultant moved back to hisj.apari- cleaning .up and testing. What followed enough furniture and floor covering to' . fewer, than 40% of-siich tiify particles. ment-'live'blocks south of Ground Zero was a free-for-all. . ^.fill ja;football,.'field piled five feet high. .Students had-proved back.lntb the large. only-two weeks after Sept: -11. His'living City officials distributed sketchyl^g^sCapitM^^kets;; a unit of,Roya|i»j-Xp^^icahyj^itepublic;spB^^^^ ■ room ’was.Still covered.by gray dust. The guidelines but did little to enforce,them,ofwhich occupies- fivery berritwo’monthsybefore.-thA'hltefs-^ "ownerof the 208-unil residential building ’ The recommendations ■- ex included, for ­ floors.of a.black tower on the easternS^iimpfoyed'andWe-Wlffi^ -t-r denied .tenants’ requests to' hire atClean- ample, wiping down surfaces with a wet? edge of the Trade Center site, says it • rjdhg d&ty'dehns/tb bafges'ih the Hud- iiig contractor, Mr.-Jain says,'so-iie hired rag but didn’t specify how to tell if poten­ even vacuumed hundreds of thousands of , son River .just M yards away. ’ . ‘his owh.iConfused about what sort dfaest tial hazards had been eliminated. "So here: were these capitalists p'ro- •ing would^ appropriate/- he - didnu; m. EPA officials in New York say they, ’.Wall Street Journal employees began tecting their .employees, gnd.we.liaw5to- any. “We have been ieft'lo fend -for our- didn’t take the initiative indoors because; ' returning lo the' Dow jones’offices,adja- ,,*’aefable j#SSrl|i(lxwho’rwSied?h«»ro- selves to' protect our own- health and neither FEMA nor Hew York City askfxlit;-cent tothe TradcCenfer,site,in:|ate'July -’ "'tectionatsSw^find that outrageous,’ safety,” says Mr. Jain,'40.’ to: Bonnie Bellow, an EPA spokeswoman- Ibm-Launcella.'-a JOuinal.reporter and ■ , .says .Marilena’ Christodouloii,'-until ;re- in New York, says the regional office had I—_______ •_ .’ ' " ............ ' ? I its hands full for months focusing oh'the iunleash'ed a massive clo'ud-,of debris on lower Manhattan? the continuing cleanup outdoor cleanup. ”As the outdoor condi­ presents 8',riark case of haves and have- iiots.cl’heYlggesl co'rporat'e'itehams'smc iMdlords ’have conductejJ-fpricey clean tions began to improve, and it became clear that there was confusion and con­ cern about any residual -diist that might (Ei . tups, costing millions of-doUars eaetCBu: remain in people’s homes, we proceeded -until recently, government agencies at al i with the development of a plan for clean­ levels failed to mount a centralized can, ing up/dust indoors,” Ms. Bellow says. ;P^gh‘,of scrubbing and testing indoc: :'gFor'its’part',’FEMA'says it deferred to spaces. AS a result, many residential build­ the ERA.’ “We were waiting for them' to ings, schools and small businesses have re­ tell us ’there'Was a problem with indoor ceived only spotty attention. air quality;” says Brad Gaif,,the senior Even’ without firm.government. guid- FEMA official on the" scene. Geoffrey ance, many large companies and land­ Ryan,-a spokesperson with the city’s lords "were quick DEP, says his agency..,twprked coopera; -to.spend ,3 .lot,-of tjyely from day one with EPA.’’.The clty money,’upgr'a’de fil- advised landlords they had to clean build­ tration . systems ings according to a “strict protocol,”,Mr. and bring -in ex­ Ryan says/ ”1/ there was a problem,'wf perts,” -say's Hugh reviewed it.” .< ,. Kaufman, a‘policy ■ Beginning last fall, the EPA came un­ analyst at-the'Envi- der 'escalating^pressure’ from residents ronmentai •Protec­ and local politicians who. argued that as tion Agency's head the country’s premier environmental quarters- in ’Wash- 'agency, it:ought to'oversee all cleaning. • ington. But lacking In; May, -eight months after Sept', llf-the official coordina­ ERA fiiiailyTespbhded by offerihg to’re- tion-lincludinp move any -asbestos -from /30,000,--resi; Sudhir Jain' ^^-agency «ttgmy. o a.« A'V smaller , iandlo.-ci; cut corners,-Mr. -Kaufman-adds.-"l-giv< the private - sector tremendous kudos. 1 VJnil pArtZL-VTftirontt APO

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