Fax cover sheet regarding Independence Plaza environmental data, Oct 2002

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

12.23-, b2 MON 1.1:41 FAX 212 777 u337 1j uu2

Diane S. Lapson iPNTA - Environmental Committee • 40 Harrison Street PII 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 located on Greenwich Street than 4000 tenants of Independence Plaza North (IPN), between Duane and North Moore Streets. the dust cloud caused by the As you are no doubt aware, IPN was severely impacted by homes and, indeed, destruction of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Our subjected to s irborne dust our entire neighborhood, continued for over eight months to be adjacent to our created by the debris-removal operation on Pier 25, which is virtually complex. agencies to do an ervironmental We have been trying to get the responsible government neither DEP nor any other cleanup of our buildings for more than a year. in all that time, agency was willing to test our buildings for contaminants. tenants, the Tenant Therefore, out of concern for the health and well-being of IPN 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 of the results of the Dr. Millette developed for the EPA. We are enclosing herewith a copy asbestos ultrasonication test, which show an extremely high level of asbestos (1.3 million massive 8-month structures per square centimeter). Given this test result, plus our hallway carpeting in IPN exposure to WTC dust, it is reasonable to assume that all of the contains asbestos. tha: affixes the Recently, DEP ordered IPN's landlord to have testing done of the mastic since carpet mastic carpeting to the cement floor. Asbestos experts have advised us that, any asbestos coming is a non-friable material, EPA's ultrasonication test will not show comes from dust from carpet mastic. The test will only detect asbestos which have no contamination of the carpet. Therefore, the results of the recent mastic testing test, ordered by the IPN relevance to the enclosed results of the carpet ultrasonication tenant association. carpeting itself. Air Therefore, we hereby request that further testing be done on the IPN ultrasonication or namely testing should be supplemented with other testing methods - asbestos contamination of microvac - that would more accurately reflect the potential for the need (or lack the iPN complex. Such testing must be sufficient to demonstrate thereof) for asbestos abatement of the hallways of IPN buildings.

NYC-WTC 000154931