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

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document Mr, Jjiiii’y hinilluril;i( 50 BuUery PI.'icp. ... Butro gel a*^lKnu^lenaritsidr Ulf Ihnnsiffi ers musisSsk'the-.EPA to come in? That . NearIrade Center, u spt'kvsniaii thiU ii IvW leiumls ic {un* L'c!) own deauvrsaiid subinil bills for j»«•.>; .means ’while, one.-apartment,-may .be cleaned;.^ nearby elevator-,shaft or unit 'v'Hl!' rciinhiirscnieni by Ibe owiifr\ nisnr- next-dobrfltaL not, .creating the possibil­ ; Stark Disparities anvc vodipaiyv. OriM'j ikofdJ'i/J- JUr, J;ijn isn'i mnobg tbeni-uaw submUieti such ity of recohtamination. The agency will clean hallways and lobbies only if-asked * Emerge in Cleanups hills, tile spokesiniin soys. Those vioims ore sriil being sorietl udl. by a landlord. The EPA’isn't offering to cleaii small hu-sitiesses or. schools.' ,. - Pubiii-beiillb vxpvris say iluii. su (af, So far -residents apart-?'.' new^rOom fdirector for the ..Independent Lax Government Leadership Leaves Some Residences (bey haven*} jde/bil'jed any long-HTiu sv* rii.iiis beobb ri.sT.s Irotu liiv b/.so.sber. Boi thill view assumes elTectfve butdoor oob indoor cleanups of asbestos and other lo'? ss3”'=.omsssss With Asbestos Concerns ijis. And while lieallh siudies coniinue. treatment. "We should be - getting a tions.elsewhere in our buiiding and in U'f experts stress they tion'l know ye; proper asbestos cleanup like the corpo- neighboring buildings.’’ Melissa Coley, a i'lviiSi' Turn In Tuye All. ! rate tenants are getting,” he says. spokeswoman for; Brookfield Properties Companies Spend lo llelurbish In addition to American Express, com­ Corp., owner of the Dow Jones building, Continued From first Pape . whether - the combination. of - substances panies such as Merrill Lynch & Co., Bank says, “We have directly addressed the By Motoko Rich 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.' "We? Jones & Co., publisher of this tinue to monitor the air quality in our just -don’t know, but, if you don’t geti - newspaper, say they have cleaned and buildings.” NEW YORK-In the eight months thai Ibuildingsl cleaned, obviously there will ; tested extensiyely. The potentially dan- • .’To 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. Liby, 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- “ r-"—;— Center site. Cleaners vacuumed thick lay­ The main blame forLhe helter-skelter indoor Dentistry of New Jersey and Rutgers Uni- ers of dust-and debris that had blown int(> the 51-stoi-y tower through shattered win­ cleanup of dOwntowii Manhattan can be traced T’ dows. Specialists tested for 120 contami­ nants, Including asbestos, lead and mer­ Free-for-AU . tO the shuffling of responsibility amongi, cury. Mr. Stewart returned iii June to i«>S?^S?MSS«SM^;<^erntoentagencies.' ’ a- pristine office, with .a -new . chair, . lan-a triangular area at the, island's ,_________________ .?_______ .___________________ ... computer and gray- f southern end where'200,000 people live. and:blue{CKfpeting. f and work-can be traced to the shuffling-G,-.retardanl in the Trade Center that can owns the tower housing RBC Capital Mar- American ^Express, I of responsibility among government' ’ircause lung disease and cancer if there is kets, says it installed filter’ systems to the 32-year-oid man- agencies. In the days after Sept, 11, the exposure for a'period of years.-Others block more than 95% of particles measur- ager says, "did Federal Emergency Management ' include pulverized cement and glass,, ing one micron or larger. The same was what it needed to Agency assigned the ERA to monitorput;’ .wW^ycan cause respiratory problems, done at many other large commercial do to alleviate peo­ door air, clear'debris and dust and’hari- - and-lead and mercury from incinerated buildings in the vicihity. Before Sept. 11, ple’s fears?’ die hazardous waste removed ffoin the ' computers and lighting, which can cause the standard for. corporate offices'was A few .blocks disaster site. New York City assumed con-? neritous-system damage. between 60% and 85%. away,-; Sudhir Jain troi over indoor areas, including apart-'i’ lb'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-.f .-ceUing tiles 'and upholstered furniture, the New York City Department of Educa- ' freelance technol­ lords and residents the job of actually American’Express says' it threw out- tion upgraded classroom filters to-block ogy consultant moved back to his'apari- cleaning .up and testing. What followed enough, furniture and floor covering",to fewer.than 40% of-such tiny .particles. ment five blocks'-: south of Ground Zero was a free-for-all. JootteB 'field .piled five feet high.Stiidente had moved back into ihe large. only two weeks after Sept; -11. His'iiving City officials distributed sketchy ^i^CafutMtMarkets;; a unit of .Royal«Y?^demici^y^llte -room wasistil! covered by gray diist. .The guidelines but did little to enforce ’them. of :^ada; - which occupieS ' five'g' . ber.-.two-iimnths before ’tiie'Yiltefs were ' own'er of the 208-unit residential buiiding The recommendations included, for ex-iLflooS’’Of a black tower oh the easte'rh’,’?'’improved ahd’,whde,tnicl!s were 'stiUfer- •denied tenants’,requests tdliire aidean- ample, wiping down surfaces with a wet i edge of the'Trade Center site, says ft ' .'fjdhg'dffisty’deBns td bargesin the'-Hud- ihg contractor, Mr.’Jain says,' so he hirec ’t specify how to tell if poten­'■ even vacuumed hundreds of thousands of son River jusLso yards away. rag but didn......................................... his own.- Coniused aboin what sortpfaesi- tial hazards had been eliminated. individual pieces of paper. -So here were these capitalists'pro- ing.would;-be‘ appropriate,-he didn’t do EPA officials in New York say they i ' -Wall Street journal employees began . tecting their employees, and.we haveM any. “We have been left to fend for ouj didn't take the initiative indoors because! -'returaing.:to. toe.,po,w^h.eaY!fficesia<Maq?;4^ selves to protect our own -health and neither FEMA nor New York City asked it •• - cent to ttie Trade Center site, in late July., ’?,tection,-Uscho^findthat outrageous?’ safety,’’ says Mr. Jain, 40. to. Bonriie Bellow, an EPA spokeswoman -‘Ibm,LauriceIla?. a Jduriial ,reporter and •,^,.says -Mmileha' Qui Sept, irierroi- in New York, says the regional office had list attacks destroyed the ‘Twin Towers and its hands full for months focusing on the 'unleashed, a massive cloud of ‘debriston outdoor cleanup. “As the outdoor condi­ lower’Manhattan; the continuing cleanup tions began to improve, and it became presents e-Jterk case of haves and have- clear that there was confusion and -con­ nots. ’The biggest .corporate',tdtttotk’wic cern about any residual -diist that might landlords-have • conducted -.pricey,, clean . vups, ’costingmillions pf.dpUars_^SBui remain iii people’s homes, we proceeded ■until TMehtiy, government agenaM at al! with the development of a plan for clean­ levhls failed to mount a centralized can,- ing up diisl indoors," Ms. Bellow says. paign-of scrubbing and testing indooi r': Fpr its''part, FEMA'says it defeired to spaces. AS a result, many residential build­ the EPAi.’We were wafting for them to ings, schools and small businesses have rt-- tell us there was a problem with indoor ceived only spotty attention. air quality," says Brad Gair, .the senior Even without fim government ..guid­ FEIMA 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..,‘‘worked coopera­ tot.-01 tively from day one with EPA.”. The city ■ 'money, upgrade fii- advised landlords they bad to clean,build­ tration systems ings according to a “strict protocol,".Mr. and bring;iii ex­ Ryan says?,“If Oiere was a problem;-we perts." says'.Hugh reviewed it.” _ i .

Li Kaufman., a' policy analyst at.’the'EnVi- rohmentaP-Protec- tion Agency’s head • Beginning last fall, &e ERA came -un- ders escalating; pressure - from residents and local-politicians who argued-that-as the country’s premier environmental quarters in Wash- a^ncyvitioughno oversee all cleaning. in^on. But lacking Ini May, eight months after Sept Mftthe official ^..coordina- EPA finally-responded by offering to -re­ tion-iheludinp move . any? astfestos -from' > JO.OOO Aresi- from his uai. Swlhir. Jilin , ?-agency"many. smallc! iaiifli'jra; cut cornerSj Mr. -Kaufman .'adds. “Lgiv' ilie private sector tremendous <Kiiao'. ; vOnil ftrrd/A-.iTZx irnril 5.3-?YA —. ....-

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