Panel agenda for Air Quality After 9/11 conference, March 2004

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

air was safe to breathe was made in direct response to the public’s concern about asbestos contamination following the WTC collapse, and that the press release detailed the monitoring that led to the statement and made it clear that further monitoring would take place. The Acting Administrator also pointed out that EPA never withheld data from the public and made its extensive monitoring data available on its interactive web site. With respect to CEQ’s involvement in the preparation of EPA’s press releases, the Acting Administrator stated that the Agency coordinated with CEQ and that this coordination was neither unusual or unexpected during a catastrophic disaster on the scale of the WTC attacks. Further, she noted the EPA acknowledges that mistakes were made and things could have been done better, and that there are lessons to be learned in the difficult area of risk communication. Improving risk communications is an Agency priority as it implements its “lessons learned.”

The EPA Inspector General’s report concluded that:

“given the current lack of health-based benchmarks, the lack of research data on synergistic effects, and the lack of reliable information on the extent of the public’s exposure to these pollutants, the answer to whether the outdoor air around WTC was “safe” to breathe may not be settled for years to come.”

Dr. Jackie Alan Guiliano’s April 28, 2002 article, cited above, contains the following evaluation

of EPA’s public reports on the air quality at Ground Zero:

“At a New York public hearing in February [2002], Hugh Kaufinan, the Chief Investigator for EPA’s Ombudsman Office, told a group of scientists, residents, and small business owners that he believed the EPA was deliberately not testing the air quality in the World Trade Center area properly and covering up the reasons why.” Kaufman is quoted saying “I believe EPA did not do that [appropriately test the air quality near ground zero] because they knew it would come up not safe and so they are involved in providing knowingly false information to the public about safety.”

On August 26, 2003, Senators Hillary Clinton and Joe Lieberman drafted a letter to President

Bush protesting against White House interference with EPA press releases regarding air quality

following 9/11. These statements are excerpted from that letter:

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