Interagency coordination memo, June 2002

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

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CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS IN WORLD TRADE CENTER STUDY TO DETERMINE PRE-9/11 POLLUTION LEVELS

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) needs your help in its continuing response to the attack on the World Trade Center (WTC). To better assess the impacts of possible contamination from WTC dust, the Agency needs to learn what levels of pollution existed prior to September 11. To do that, EPA needs to test the dust in apartments that were not directly effected by the collapse.

EPA will soon begin cleaning and testing residential dwellings in lower Manhattan that were impacted by the collapse of the World Trade Center. In order to establish pre-existing or background levels of pollution, EPA will sample 28 residential units and 14 common areas within buildings located north of 79* Street.

Your building has been identified as an ideal candidate for this study due to the building type (it typifies some of the housing stock in lower Manhattan) and its location well north of the WTC site. By volunteering to have your home sampled for pollutants, you can help fellow New Yorkers while receiving useful and interesting information about your home.

Samples will need to be taken fi-om two units in your building and from common-use areas such as lobbies and/or stairwells. The results will be compared to impacted locations near the World Trade Center collapse. The sampling for EPA’s background study will be conducted by licensed contractors with direct EPA oversight.

In order to volunteer, we need for you to:

z Be available for a one-time, one-day, eight-hour period between July 29 through August 16*, Monday through Friday (limited number of Saturdays available). EPA will schedule with you for a mutually convenient time;

Allow three air pumps to run continuously in your dwelling for a period of eight hours, and allow EPA to wipe and vacuum some areas of your dwelling; and

z Sign an access agreement provided by EPA.

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