E-mails R. Avaltroni 2002

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

February 14,2002

Christine Todd Whitman Administrator Environmental Protection Agency Ariel Rios Building 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, DC 20460

Dear Administrator Whitman:

I am writing to thank you for EPA’s support and efforts with regard to environmental issues stemming from the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and also to express my deep concern about communications emanating from your agency. Since becoming Commissioner at the New York City Department of Health in January, I have been heavily involved with the issues of air quality in the area of lower Manhattan surrounding the World Trade Center site. I have been impressed with the quantity of environmental sampling activities conducted by the EPA, and with the efforts you have made to release these data to the public. I have also been impressed with the extensive collaboration that has occurred between federal, state and local environmental, occupational and health agencies.

We recognize that the issues aroimd environmental sampling and analysis are not always clear-cut. Even so, I have been deeply concerned about the information disseminated by Ms. Cate Jenkins publicly criticizing this Department and contradicting other EPA communications. The fact that her viewpoints are being issued on EPA letterhead and disseminated from the EPA mail server, with an EPA address, is deeply disturbing. If these are the official opinions of EPA, then we should have an open and dispassionate discussion of the issues. If they are not, then EPA has, in my view, an overriding responsibility to respond publicly to the scientific issues raised in these communications. Contradictory information emanating from EPA has led to confusion among residents and workers in New York City about the potential health effects of various substances. Moreover, it contributes - unnecessarily - to the anxiety that residents of New York City are still experiencing after the terrible events of September 11.

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