NYC-WTC_000195741

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

The EPA Passes the Buck to the City

The EPA allowed the City of New York to handle indoor air quality. The City, in turn, placed the burden for indoor air matters (testing and remediation) on individual building owners for indoor public spaces, and on tenants for indoor private spaces. The. City provided little enforcement with respect to indoor public spaces, no enforcement with rpgpppt tn indoor Private spaces, and gave improper advice regarding hazardous rna|eria1g tpcting and remediation

As was previously mentioned, it first became clear to the public in mid-January, 2002 that the EPA had allowed the City of New York to handle indoor air quality.^’ An EPA spokesperson stated, on January 11, that “.. .indoor air is beyond EPA’s jurisdiction.An EPA Region II spokesperson went a step further later in January and stated the EPA had taken no responsibility for indoor air quality and was, in fact, satisfied by the City’s work. That spokesperson stated, "The EPA's job was to monitor outdoor air. Monitoring indoors—that wasn't our job. That's what the city took care of." According to the article, she added "that she felt the city did a good job of testing and monitoring indoor air."^’

However, the City of New York has demonstrated that it has not done the job properly. At a U.S. Senate Subcommittee field hearing on February 11,2002, New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYC DEP) Commissioner Joel Miele admitted that the DEP was capable of handling the job when he noted that available hazardous materials staff was ".. .adequate except [emphasis added] in the case of a catastrophic event such as occurred here" and the agency is primarily a “water and sewer agency.”^® 5 Commissioner Miele went on to say that although the City had taken the lead on indoor air, it actually placed the burden for testing and remediating indoor common spaces on the landlords and property owners.^’ The City has made very little effort to ensure that such testing or remediation actually took place, other than issuing one “public notice” on the subject.’® The issue of DEP enforcement of building owner's responsibility for common areas caused a great deal of stir at the Senate Subcommittee hearing when Comissioner Miele first stated on the record that his agency had enforced the law, and then, after being heckled, admitted that it had not:

“ See above Schneider, Andrew, “NY Officials Underestimate Danger” and EPA Region II Press Release “EPA Statement;” Lyman, Francesca, “Yearning to Breathe in a Toxic Zone: Four Months on, WTC Attacks Still Haunting New Yorkers - And Their Health,” MSNBC, January 11,2002. Rogers, Josh, "Nadler says EPA is Passing the Buck Downtown," Downtown Express, January 22,2001. Miele, Joel (Commissioner, NYC DEP) “Testimony before the United States Senate Subcommittee on Clean Air, Wetlands, and Climate Change,” February 11, 2002. Ibid. NYC DEP, “Notice to Building Owners Located South of 14* Street, Manhattan,” September 16,2001.

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