Letter to Congress regarding EPA and DEP WTC dust clean-up

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

The EPA announced its "Indoor Residential Cleanup Program" in May of 2002, eight months after the 9/11 attacks. Two general types of cleaning were offered, one for occupied apartments, and another, more rigorous abatement, for those apartments in then unoccupied buildings. EPA was the "lead agency" for the entire cleanup program, though DEP served as on-site supervisors for the unoccupied buildings. Apartments at 114 Liberty were among only a handful of apartments that received this more extensive abatement. To date, only about 4,000 of the more than 22,000 downtown apartments have received any cleaning under the EPA program, and no workspaces or schools have been cleaned under the program. The program's request line closed in December 2002.

"The EPA went to great lengths in this case, and in its program in general to take the easy way out. It has consistently sought to do as little as it could get away with," said Nadler. "Remember, EPA officials have repeatedly denied that we had a problem in New York ~ they still, today, say it's safe. The whole program was premised not on science, but on public relations. They said this was about 'allaying our concerns,' not cleaning our homes, offices and schools," Nadler added.

The EPA has repeatedly defended its program. When the program was criticized by New York officials last September, an EPA Region 2 Spokesperson stated to the New York Daily News that "Our cleanup methods will be effective in cleaning up not just asbestos, but also heavy metals and other contaminants."

The program was sharply criticized in the recently released EPA IG's report. The IG said this program "does not meet the minimum criteria for protecting human health the EPA established." The IG found the program flawed because it tested only for asbestos (and not for the multiple contaminants identified in WTC dust), used sub-par testing methods, was prone to cause re-contamination because it did not treat buildings as systems, and was geographically too limited because it didn't go everywhere the plume went. The report also states that the White House swayed EPA officials to downplay public health risks, due to political "competing considerations."

"In the wake of the bombshell IG report, I think the rest of America is becoming increasingly horrified to find out what has happened to people who live and work in New York. I know they will be shocked to learn that, in this case, the EPA would condemn the building's 16 children to playing on floors contaminated with life-threatening toxins. " said Rep. Nadler.

Nadler added, "1 want to make it perfectly clear that this is not just one bad case. Tens of thousands of New York residents, workers and students were falsely lured back into their homes, offices and schools by unsubstantiated EPA assurances. They still don't know whether their indoor spaces are clean. But even more troubling is the fact that many New Yorkers were forced back into spaces that they knew were contaminated, because they had private tests commissioned, but they could no longer afford to stay out. EPA's pronouncements of'safety' denied them insurance coverage and extended federal mortgage or rental assistance. Often they were forced to choose between their health or their home."

Rep. Nadler said, "The EPA must now provide proper testing and cleanup, up to federal Superfund standards, for New York. It must adopt the recommendations in the IG report, and make good on the promise Regional Administrator Jane Kenny made on the day she announced the cleanup program ~ '.. .we will not consider our job complete until residents and the business community of Lower Manhattan have regained a sense of comfort in the place that they call home.'"

To obtain additional information on Congressman Nadler's response to the EPA's handling of post 9/11 clean-up, please visit his website at http://wvvw.house.gov/nadler/EPA.hlin.

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