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

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

Department of Environmental Protection of ineffective cleaning efforts regarding

their work on the mixed use building at 114 Liberty Street. The building has nine

floors of residential condominiums and two floors of commercial tenants. In her

letter Ms. Jenkins wrote:

“Re: EPA/NYCDEP clean-up of WTC dust at 114 Liberty Street

1. They left visible dust with high levels of asbestos after the clean-up and pronounced the building safe to re-occupy.

2. They ignored residents’ own testing which contradicted their claims.

3. They ignored the presence of silica, a known human carcinogen, at hazardous levels.

4. They refuse to re-clean.”

“My comments arise from my personal concern over misrepresentations by EPA and their deviations from their criteria for the clean-up of WTC contaminants. The conclusions and opinions are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.”

“After EPA/NYCDEP completed the two abatements, the residents performed their own additional testing. This was motivated by the fact that EPA/NYCDEP contractors had not abated areas of clearly visible dust in the exposed wall spaces and elsewhere.”

“Dusts underneath floorboards were also tested, because cracks in the floor boards had allowed lines of WTC dust to settle in visible lines both in and under these cracks, which were not removed by the abatements. It was feared that future vacuuming of the floors, impacts from foot traffic, contraction of the wood, or other normal activities would resuspend the dust lying in the cracks and under the floorboard. Residents had tried to get EPA/NYCDEP to address this contamination in the floorboards during the cleaning program, but EPA/NYCDEP refused.”

“Residents had both wipe and microvacuum testing performed under the floorboards and on the horizontal surfaces of the exposed wall and ceiling support systems. Note that wipe sampling is the preferred method for testing for residual asbestos or other dust-laden contaminants on

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