EPA memorandum on WTC environmental data concealment, July 2004

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

Concealment, deletions and alterations of data by NYC The NYC Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) concealed its own electron microscope (TEM) air asbestos data completely for many months after the WTC collapse. When it finally released this data, they deleted and altered significant high readings.

See the Appendix to this memorandum for a table showing the deletions and alterations of data from the original 11/13/01 version to the version released to the public sometime in early 2002.

NYC started testing asbestos levels in air one day after the disaster on 9/12/01. NYC would have had the results of the tests within a few hours of completion, because at that time, the laboratories were providing priority service to the 9/11 response. Samples were taken by couriers to the lab, who would often wait for results to convey back to their superiors.

NYC also would have conveyed the results to EPA. In a later section, verification is given that EPA was coordinating all of its testing directly with NYC at the time.

The two different versions of the NYC asbestos TEM data

n/13/01 FOIL response version ofNYC data

NYC first gave their data to the NY State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC). Then, the NYS DEC transferred this data to an outside party in their 11/13/01 response to a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request.^ The FOIL response provided other data as well, including OSHA's, Con Edison's, NIOSH's, etc.

(The version of the NYC data which was included in the 11/13/01 FOIL response did not constitute a release to the public by NYC. It only shows that NYC released the data to the NYS DEC, a state agency.)

Altered web version (posted early 2002) ofNYC data

Sometime before or during early 2002, NYC posted another version of its TEM asbestos data on its NYC Department of Environmental Protection website. jj I

Earlier, by at least 10/24/01, NYC had posted PCM light microscope asbestos air data on its J-L > website. There was no indication at this time that the TEM electron ;microscope data even existed.^ The TEM results were the only ones related to EPA's and NYC's stated health benchmark of 70 s/mm^ for the WTC disaster.

Summary of hazardous levels found hebveen 9/12/01 and 9/29/01 using original NYC data

From the original version of the data, from 9/12/01 and 9/29/01, 52% of NYC's TEM tests were either over or presumed to be over 70 s/mm^. There were 87 outdoor air tests reported by the NYC during this time period. Out of these, 45 were either over 70 s/mm^ (16 tests) or classified as "overload" (29 tests). Many of these high test results were many blocks from Ground Zero, up to 10 blocks away to the north and northeast. 3

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