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

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document Con+inueci Random 'fests The agency announced this niunlli that in addition to cleanups-on-request, it would also randomly test 250 apartments for lead, mercury and dioxin, even though its scientists believe the amounts of those toxins emitted by the disaster weren't enough to threaten public health. The EPA says it will also test apartments that have already been cleaned. Jane Kenny, the agency's regional ad- cently the president of the Stuyvesan; niinistralor. says these steps are suffi­ Parents Association and the mother of an cient, in light of the lack of evidence, so 18-year-61d son who graduated in June. far, of long-term health dangers. "We Judith Moore, current ,co-pi esident of want to respect the rights of the individu­ the parents group, whose daughter is start- als and allow them to decide whether or ingher senior year next month, says anxi­ not to ask for the cleaning or testing." ety over the school's air quality has been Ms. Kenny says. If the agency suspects heightened by the lack of a centralized that a building is significantly contami­ nated, it will urge the owner to request a cleanup, But Ms. Moore, a.psychothera­ more thorough cleanup, she adds. pist, adds that in these uncertain times, parents want“a guarantee of safety for But some residents aren't satisfied. our children in this world "-something no Wendy Tabb, a 3S-year-old jeweler who i cleanup can satisfy. rents an apartment al 105 Duane Street that once looked out on the Twin Towers Bernard Orlan, director of environ­ from seven blocks to the north, says she mental health and safety for the city’s and her husband did only normal dusting Department of Education, says that, re­ and vacuuming in the weeks after Sept. ■ peated air tests in Stuyvesant classrooms 11. She says they were lulled by reassur­ ■have shown that the new 40% filters are ing statements from EPA Administrator meeting all government health standards Christie Todd Whitman and then-Mayor for schools. Stronger filters would-have Rudolph Giuliani that tlie neighborhood's been an inefficient use of public money, air was sale. Mr. Orlan says. The Education-Depart­ ment says it has spent $1.7 million since Soon, however, the Tabbs say they be­ Sept. 11.on cleaning and testing at the • gan getting skin rashes and bloody 10-story Stuyvesant building. noses. George Tabb, a 40-year-old freelance writer -and musician, says he Insurance and legal disputes have; had trouble sleeping because his asthma snagged some residential cleanups. At was badly exacerbated. Southbridge Towers. a group of nine coop­ eratively owned apartment buildings sev­ In October, their landlord, the large eral blocks east of Ground Zero, the board real-estate firm Related Cos., hired a con­ of directors filqd an insurance claim early, sultant to test for toxins in the hallways this year of $635,700 for a planned cleanup .and lobby and in apartments of tenants of building exteriors and common areas, who requested it. Related told residents such as hallways. In June, Greater New the tests didn’t show any dangerous con­ York Insurance Cos. provided $371 jSifl, say­ tamination by asbestos or other sub­ ing that would be sufficient. The coopera­ stances. Some residents say they aren’t tive’s directors, who all live in the com­ worrying. "People have worse problems plex, decided to fight; filing a complaint than this," says Vas Kallas, a rock-band with the New York State Department of In­ guitarist whose apartment laces away surance. In the meantime, the cleaning Irom Ground Zero. hasn’t even started. The co-op directors But with their symptoms continuing, fear that to do so would imply that they had the Tabbs in November decamped with accepted the lower insurance payment as their Yorkshire terrier. Scooter, to Mr. adequate. Theidirectors also say they are Tabb’s steplather’s apartment in Green­ confused about whether a government wich Village, 20 blocks larther noilh. The agency might be willing to do a portion ol next month, they and other tenants hired the cleaning. • ’ , an industrial hygienist, who collected ■■ Some Southbridge' owners have had dust samples in a hallway duct on the more success with their individual units. 10th lloor. One-sample showed 550.000 as­ Gregory and Bonnie Cooper, who own a bestos libers per square centimeter, a two-bedroom, llth-floor apartment, re­ level the expert described as above nor­ ceived $5,000 from their home insurer, a mal for an urban environment, though unit of Chubb Corp., to hire a profes­ lower than the amount that legally re­ sional cleaner When tests in April found quires a specialized asbestos abatement. asbestos on their previously cleaned ter­ Related hired a contractor in Decem­ race at levels higher than normal-al- ber to clean the ventilation system and though . still below EPA guidelines-the ducts in apartments. But when residents Coopers persuaded the Insurance com­ complained that the contractor wasn't a pany to pay another $4,000 for a second licensed asbestos-abatement specialist. -cleaning. But!Ms. Cooper remains nei- work inside the apartments stopped and vous. “Even if ! have my terrace cleaned, was never completed. my- nexf'door- neighbor;.hasn’t, so I Jeff Brodsky, president of Related ; haven’t been''using;my .terrace at all," Management Co., an affiliate of the land- ! she’ says. They have, requested a third lord, says, “1 wish 1 could get the resi- i scrubbing from thesEPA. dents to let us finish the work we wauled to complete." The cleanup wasn’t legally required or necessary for health reasons, he says. "There was no evidence of any dust I from the Trade Center] in the build­ ing,” he adds. Instead, Related hired the contractor "to put people at ease.’ JournalUnk: See an inlei'aciree XSJl aullery of the key players in iln- power strugyle to rebuild al the Work! I'rudt' Center site, in the Online . Janrnul ut WSJ.com/JournalUnks.

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