Tenant letter re: WTC dust testing at Independence Plaza, Dec

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

Diane S. Lapson IPNTA -,Environmental Committee 40 Harrison Street P11 New York, NY 10013 (212) 473-5900 (work) (212) 777-0337 (fax) December 15, 2002

Christopher O. Ward, Commissioner New York City Department of Environmental Protection 59-17 Junction Blvd. Flushing, NY 11313

Dear Commissioner Ward: Association, representing more I am writing on behalf of the Independence Plaza Tenant Greenwich Street than 4000 tenants of Independence Plaza North (IPN), located on between Duane and North Moore Streets. cloud caused by the As you are no doubt aware, IPN was severely impacted by the dust destruction of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Our homes and, indeed, to airborne dust our entire neighborhood, continued for over eight months to be subjected adjacent to our created by the debris-removal operation on Pier 25, which is virtually complex. do an environmental We have been trying to get the responsible government agencies to nor any other cleanup of our buildings for more than a year. In all that time, neither DEP agency was willing to test our buildings for contaminants. Tenant Therefore, out of concern for the health and well-being of IPN tenants, the of one of Association hired MVA, Inc. laboratory to test a piece of carpet from the hallway ultrasonication method that our towers, at 310 Greenwich Street, for asbestos, using the results of the the Dr. Millette developed for the EPA. We are enclosing herewith a copy of asbestos ultrasonication test, which show an extremely high level of asbestos (1.3 million our massive 8-month structures per square centimeter). Given this test result, plus carpeting in IPN exposure to WTC dust, it is reasonable to assume that all of the hallway contains asbestos. affixes the Recently, DEP ordered IPN's landlord to have testing done of the mastic that carpet mastic carpeting to the cement floor. Asbestos experts have advised us that, since asbestos coming is a non-friable material, EPA's ultrasonication test will not show any dust from carpet mastic. The test will only detect asbestos which comes from of the recent mastic testing have no contamination of the carpet. Therefore, the results ordered by the IPN relevance to the enclosed results of the carpet ultrasonication test, tenant association. carpeting itself. Air Therefore, we hereby request that further testing be done on the IPN ultrasonication or testing should be supplemented with other testing methods - namely contamination of microvac - that would more accurately reflect the potential for asbestos need (or lack the IPN complex. Such testing must be sufficient to demonstrate the thereof) for asbestos abatement of the hallways of IPN buildings.

NYC-WTC 000154910