EPA Announces New Testing and Clean-Up for Lower Manhattan
The Environmental Protection Agency announced this week that it will launch its final Sept. 11 contamination cleanup program next month. The EPA instituted similar testing and cleaning programs in 2002 and 2003 (see picture) that critics say were insufficient.
The new cleanup plan will test interior dust in office and apartment buildings for four contaminants that spread across Lower Manhattan after the destruction of the Twin Towers. The plan will test indoor spaces below Canal Street and west of Allen and Pike streets and is expected to cost $7 million. The testing program's two-month registration period will begin in January.
But the new effort has already come under fire from critics for its modest scope and estimated cost as well as the fact that people must sign up for testing and cleaning. "The EPA is acting as if the last four years never happened," said Congressman Jerrold Nadler in a statement. "We know that people are sick, and yet the Agency is repeating the same mistakes by limiting the plan to a small geographic area, not testing for all contaminants known to be present in WTC dust, not treating buildings as a whole to reduce recontamination, and by refusing to take responsibility for commercial buildings. The fact that they’re only spending $7 million shows that EPA doesn’t intend to do too much." The four contaminants that the EPA is searching for are asbestos, man-made fibers like fiberglass, lead, and polycyclic armoatic hydrocarbons, but many other harmful substances are present in WTC dust, according to analysis referenced on an American Institute of Conservation web page.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is conducting a study of EPA’s World Trade Center indoor testing and cleanup program, and will release a draft report in May, 2007. EPA officials were quick to defend their record: "The vast majority of occupied residential and commercial spaces in lower Manhattan have been repeatedly cleaned, and we believe the potential for exposure related to dust that may remain from the collapse of the World Trade Center building is low," said EPA official Dr. George Gray, as quoted in NY Daily News Coverage.
New Congress to Investigate $1 Billion WTC Health Fund
The City of New York has spent $50 million to contest lawsuits filed by Ground Zero workers, in possible violation of the guidelines for a special federal fund. The Department of Homeland Security Inspector General is investigating whether the City's actions defy guidelines for the WTC Captive Insurance Co, which manages the $1 billion Congress allocated to pay claims against the city and its contractors from the WTC cleanup. The investigation was launched at the request of Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), a longstanding advocate for the needs of WTC responders and rescue workers.
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