Draft letter to FEMA on WTC debris removal and asbestos

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

E) to-ad? L%rT^n- Hoffer, Mark From: Hoffer, Mark Sent: Tuesday, June 04, 2002 4:21 PM To: '[email protected]' Subject: FW: Lower Manhattan - FEMA - Building Clean Up

re-sending in case it didn't come through.

■Original Message- From: Hoffer, Mark Sent: Tuesday, June 04, 2002 3:04 PM To: '[email protected]' Subject: Lower Manhattan - FEMA - Building Clean Up

PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL ATTORNEY/CLIENT COMMUNICATION

Laurel:

As I indicated, I've been helping Bob Avaltroni clear up some legal details pertaining to the Lower Manhattan building clean-up programs being contracted for by DEP but led by EPA and funded by FEMA:

a) cleaning debris from building exteriors on certain buildings b) testing (if requested) and removal of asbestos (if present) from the interior of residential apartments.

FEMA has asked for a letter for its files, justifying the advance of federal emergency dollars to the City. We previously sent a letter to Brad Gair some weeks back on the building exterior program. FEMA now wants a new letter covering both programs.

FEMA initially wanted language to the effect that certain health risks would ensue if the programs did not go forward (including language describing illnesses associated with long-term exposure to asbestos). DEP and the Law Department were uncomfortable with this. We felt it painted an unfair and inaccurate picture of the current situation downtown. We also felt it unfairly subjected the City to legal risk if the City went ahead and assisted EPA (as we are doing) by serving as the procuring agency for these programs.

After several discussions with FEMA's attorney (Mary Ellen Martinet), FEMA appears to have backed off and is willing to accept our most recent draft letter (attached below), without the language FEMA originally sought. Instead, FEMA has asked if we can give some additional details on the economic development importance of the clean-up programs (e.g., "9/11 caused several major employers — such as X and Y, to move out of downtown (and in some cases out of the City), resulting in a loss of approximately Z jobs in the financial sector, a key component of the City's economy. The programs are necessary to strengthen public confidence in the revival of downtown Manhattan, which in turn is critical to induce such firms to return, or to attract new firms who will restore jobs and associated spending to the downtown area [I made this up based on suggestions the FEMA attorney made to me]).

If you or your colleagues can give me some basic facts and figures, or can cut and paste language of this type we have used before in communications with FEMA, I think we can wrap this up fairly quickly. Please advise. Thanks.

MARK HOFFER General Counsel, NYCDEP tel: 718-595-6528 fax: 718-595-6543 e-mail: [email protected]

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