Newsday article clipping on WTC air quality, Aug 2006

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

(g) Hoffer, Mark From: Michaels, Ian Sent: Monday, August 28, 2006 10:21 AM To: Lloyd, Emily; Public Affairs, Group; Shana Whitehead; Avaltroni, Robert; Campbell, Zoeann; Canty, Anne; Durig, Roy; Fenves, Carol; Friedman, Richard; Garcia, Kathryn; Greeley, Douglas; Hoffer, Mark; Kulikowski, Robert; Kurtz, Warren; Kusterbeck, William; Lanaghan, Mark; Lawitts, Steven; Levine, Robin; Licata, Angela; Lopez, Alfonso; McCoy, Gerould; McMaster, Cecil; Reed, Dana; Ritze, Mark; Roberts, James; Sapienza, Vincent; Singleton, Joseph; Sturcken, Charles; Warne, David; Welch, Edward Subject: PRESS ROUNDUP

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NEWSDAY

Early on, dissent over air quality Public statements after 9/11 under scrutiny in wake of lawsuit, illnesses

BY GRAHAM RAYMAN Newsday Staff Writer

August 27, 2006

Even as the city and federal government were reassuring New Yorkers that the air at Ground Zero was safe in the weeks after Sept. 11, some officials were sounding the alarm within their agencies about air quality at the site.

A series of court documents and internal memos reveals, among other things, a City Hall divided over when to reopen downtown to workers and shoppers, and a failure to enforce regulations aimed at assuring that workers were protected in the sooty, dust-filled air.

Five years later, the cost now may be coming due in mysterious illnesses, shortened careers, even lost lives - and a class action lawsuit by 7,000 people.

On Oct. 6, 2001, while the city and the Environmental Protection Agency were repeatedly reassuring New Yorkers that the air at Ground Zero was safe, a top city Health Department official wrote a three-page memo raising "critical environmental issues" related to the disaster.

Associate Commissioner Kelly McKinney wrote that there were deep disagreements between the city's Office of Emergency Management and the Department of Environmental Protection over whether the air was safe enough to allow people back into the zone.

"The mayor's office is under pressure from building owners and business owners in the red zone to open more of the city to occupancy," McKinney wrote. "According to OEM, some city blocks north and south of Ground Zero are suitable for reoccupancy. DEP believes the air quality is not yet suitable for reoccupancy. I was told the mayor's office was directing OEM to open the target areas next week." McKinney, now with OEM, did not respond to a written request for comment.

'Strict standard'

In response to Newsday's questions, the city's law department issued a statement saying no area was reopened until testing had found it safe. "Areas were not reopened to the public until they were cleaned of dust and debris and testing demonstrated at least two consecutive days of asbestos levels below the strict standard for reoccupancy of schools," said Kenneth A. Becker, chief of the law department's World Trade Center unit.

Records reviewed by Newsday also indicate:

City, state and federal officials failed to enforce workplace safety laws - for example, fining or expelling workers who did not wear respirators. Use of respirators remained below 45 percent for most of the recovery project, records show.

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