Interagency coordination message, WTC response, March 27, 2002

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

>Jane Kenny, EPA Regional Administrator. "We have been working >hand-in-hand with the city to resolve the public's health >concerns."

> "I am extremely pleased that EPA continues to work with the City >to address concerns regarding air quality in Lower Manhattan," >said incoming DEP Commissioner Christopher Ward.

>Tests conducted since September 11th have indicated that there is >no evidence of significant long-term health risks to residents and >office workers from the air quality in Lower Manhattan. Inspectors >from the City and EPA have surveyed area rooftops and facades >identifying buildings where residual debris remains. As removal of >debris from the World Trade Center site nears completion, City, >State and Federal agencies are committed to continuing to protect >and improve the downtown environment.

>City, state and federal health and environmental agencies are >working collaboratively to continue to assess the cleaning that >was conducted and determine testing criteria. Building on earlier >tests, EPA will conduct field work to assess cleanup techniques >and provide information for ongoing cleaning. The Agency for >Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, with support from the New >York City Department of Health and EPA, is planning to expand the >indoor air study conducted in December 2001.

>As these projects are developed, the Federal Emergency Management >Agency (FEMA) will fund components that are eligible under its >programs. As the agency responsible for coordinating federal >assistance in support of the city's long term recovery efforts, >FEMA is working closely with all concerned agencies.

>Both the EPA and New York City Task Forces will work cooperatively >to continue to protect air quality. The Lower Manhattan Air >Quality Hotline (212-221-8635) will continue to be the principal >point of information dissemination to businesses, residents and >visitors regarding air quality and environmental issues in and >around the World Trade Center site. The City's Task Force will >also coordinate additional community outreach and local >initiatives as part of the broader effort to build public >confidence in the downtown environment.

>For more information, call the City's Lower Manhattan Air Quality >Hotline at 212-221-8635 between 11:00 am and 7:00 pm Monday >through Friday. In addition, information can be found on EPA's >web site at: www.epa.gov; OSHA's web site at: www.osha.gov; NYC >DOH's web site at: www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/doh/home.htm; and >NYCDEP's web site at: www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/airmonit.html.

----------------------- Headers -------------------------------- Return-Path: <[email protected]> Received: from rly-yb0l.mx.aol.com (rly-yb0l.mail.aol.com [172.18.146.1]) by air-yb02.mail.aol.com (v83.45) with ESMTP id MAILINYB24-0326105746; Tue, 26 Mar 2002 10:57:46 -0500 Received: from alpha (ple-0.dsl.speakeasy.net [216.254.76.238]) by rly-yb0l.mx.aol.com (v84.10) with ESMTP id MAILRELAYINYB14-0326105726; Tue, 26 Mar 2002 10:57:26 -0500 Received: from [192.168.0.3] by alpha (ArGoSoft Mail Server Pro for WinNT/2000/XP, Version 1.8 (1.8.0.7)); Tue, 26 Mar 2002 10:57:20 -0500 Received: from [204.127.131.46] by alpha (ArGoSoft Mail Server Pro for WinNT/2000/XP, Version 1.8 (1.8.0.7)); Tue, 26 Mar 2002 10:57:20 -0500

NYC-WTC 000164326