DEP organizational chart for 9/11 emergency response, Sept 2001

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o < SS o I '2 o o Asbestos Targeted “0 c CT o' "0 o cn ro 2 In Cleanup Effort 03

o o o c 3 o EPA’s Whitman: ‘No reason for concern’ 3

By Hugo Kugiya taminated with asbestos but declined to name STAFF WRITER ’ which ones. While levels are generally low in Hundreds of asbestos cleanup workers repre- area and in buildings, strict removal proce- .enllng more then . dozen locfonions ond L- '^SR'KinaSSSJii oSSr ’i of die,, oral contracloro continued the massive and deli- J" in Iryine rtuationa,- Fried cate task of removing the contaminant yester- yesterday. “We’re addressing this situa- ‘’?"'"eed by the collapse of ^ion with carefWe have trained labor who have the World Trade Center, gy the permits and know all the proper tech- meantime, Chnstine Todd Whitman, niques mr doing this kind of work . . . There is head of the U.S. Environmental Protection substitute for manpower in this kind of Agency, said yesterday that there is no reason work.” for concern,” saying that the latest measure- Fried said LVI was hired to clean up asbes- mente of debri.s and air at ground zero and in tos-contaminated buildings damaged by Hurri- areas tested in the financial district show the cane Hugo, and during both the Bay Area and amount of asbestos is at or below background Los Angeles earthquakes. levels, which she defined as 1 percent or less of In most cases, the buildings are first sealed. the total sample. Compressors then create negative air pressure While there is no doubt the debris from the so no dust escapes. Workers primarily use vacu- collapse contains asbestos and that some was um cleaners with special filters and disposable released into the atmosphere. Whitman said cloths to wipe the area clean of asbestos. Fried the situation is better than she had hoped. She said his company hires an independent labora- said the EPA has regularly sampled dust, air tory to test the work area for asbestos tefore and the persistent plume of smoke and parti- and after the cleanup. In addition, the building des rising from the wreckage. The highest re- owners as well as the Occupational Safety and corded reading was 4.5 percent. Whitman said. Health Administration conduct their own tests After taking readings from as far away as to verify results. Workers are supposed to wear Brooklyn and New Jersey, the EPA is concen- sealed suits and respirators and get decontami- /J . trating on a 10-block area surrounding ground "ated before exiting the work area. zero, with help from 24-hour air monitors. -The abatement workers progress, like that Whitman said she is concerned about any read- the rescue workers, has been occasionally

if ^rteinfvlte i North America, the umbrella organization of that 18 toown with certainty to be safe. the local unions. Nonetheless, some building owners them- some, it’s a situation they’ve never been .selves have hired companies to clean up the said from Las Vegas, where the dust and debns blown into their buildings, „nion is holding a convention. treating the material as asbestos. Whitman said the EPA has also been moni- LVI Services Inc,, based in Manhattan, the toring the harbor water and drinking water for largest abatement and environmental cleanup lead and industrial contaminants, but no pol- company in the country, according to its presi­ lutente have been detected, APPhom dent Burton T. Fried, has been hired by Veri­ In the future, she said, sanriples will prob^lv Angelo Campos uses an industrial vacuum cleaner to clear dust and ash zon to clean its headquarters next to the World [and^nTBatteS, ^hm?^h wte“ch debSs has ' •' Trade Center site. He said he expects his com- fn nloon n+lrnr nnovLtr Kun/Iir»rrr- n1n/x