NYC-WTC_000196321

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document D.E.P. HRNH. ENFOR. Fax:1-212-442-1899 Sep 25 2002 11:07 P. 01

TO: GERRY KELPIN FROM. BERNIE TUCHMAN

September 25,20«2

Few of Those Eligible Register for Cleanup Help Nea r 9/11 Site By KIRK JOHNSON

WASHD'fGTON, Sept. 24 — With just a week left to sign up, only atxmt a quaner of the New York 2ity’ residents eligible to hsive their apartments tested and cleaned to remove leftover World Trade Center dust hav registered, federal environmental officials said today. They said that many residents perhaps deemed the cleanup uniiecessary, and tirat some might have b« n discouraged by reports of j&audulent cleanup contractors posing as government jsprestntatives. But the biggest problem may be that many people sUH do not know that the offer even exists. The fir free Cleanup and air-sampling work vrith contractors in the field started on Sept. 12, two months behind schedule. "One of tlie togs we're finding is that when we go in to clean up, other people see us io, the building tleaning up and then come forward," said the Environmental Protection Agency's administrator, Christie Whitma , in testifying before the Senate's Comnuttee on Environment and Public Works about her agency's response to the srrorist attack. Mrs. Whitman told the pans! that she was interested in pushing the sign-up period — which was alrei ly e.xtended once, by 30 days—past the Oct 3 deadline. But because of the complex chain of responsibility over ndoor air, she said, the decision would have to be approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, whicl s paying for the cleanups, and the City of New York. A spokesman for FEMA said that the agency would go along with any decision to extend the sign-upjbenod if city officials decided that more time was necessary . The commissioner of the city's Department of Environmental Protection, Christopher O Ward, notec that calls to the E.P.A,'5 hot line were declining, but that the city was committed to seeking full participation in tl ; cleanup program. He liaid that the city would discuss with FEMA the possibility of expanding the cleanup pn >ram to include businesses About 20,000 apartments south of Canal, Allen and Pike Streets in Lower Manhattan are covered by le plan. Residents may register by calling the E.P A. at (877) 796-5471 or by signing on to www epa.gov/wK In signing up, residents are given two options; for a cleaning and testing, or a testing only. As of today, 3,633 residents have registered for a clean-and-test. and 1,031 for a testing only, said a! lokesman for the E.P A Most of the apartments are to be tested only for asbestos, but 250 of those initial apartmeift5 will also rcceii-e a Isroador spectrum of tests for dioxins, heavy metals and other pollutants under a separate pilfcH program. The Environmental Protection Agency spokesman, Richard Stapleton, said that a decision on wheihen to expand the testing menu would be made on the basis of those initial 250 apartments, but that results were not ye j lavail able Of the 80 ast'esto.s-only apartment tests so far, he said. 2 contained asbestos in levels that suggested a m for ftinher cleanup

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NYC-WTC_000196321