By Lynn Norwood
September, 2006
In the spate of 9/11 remembrances we saw everything from genuine heartfelt grief to shameful political spin; but what we didn’t see, and what we are failing to correct, is a grievous wrong that was committed on that day, not by the terrorists, who deserve the most severe retribution, but by our own government. Our failure and incompetence, our preference to get Wall Street up and running over the safety of our own citizens, will cost many more lives than those taken by Al Qaeda on that fateful autumn day.
There was a major disaster declaration activating the federal response plan.
“Homeland security rules and presidential decision directive 62 mandates that the EPA be the lead agency for the activity where there was a terrorist attack as it relates to Environmental protection.” Hugh Kaufman engineer/Investigator, EPA
But in fact, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) took control of policy and press releases.
The CEQ is headed by James L. Connaughton who is not a scientist: he had been appointed to his post by President Bush only months before 9/11. His previous experience? Representing large corporations like Arco, GE, and Alcoa in disputes about cleaning up toxic waste sites – working against the EPA.
“CEQ should not have been involved at all.” Cate Jenkins, Ph.D. Environmental Scientist, EPA
“So far we are doing constant air monitoring, we are taking constant air samples, we have taken over 200 air samples.” “If there is any good news in all of this it is that everything we have tested for including lead and asbestos have been below any level of concern for the general public health.” – Christy Todd Whitman, administrator of EPA, Sept 13th.
“We’ve had concern, we are going to continue to monitor, but I can tell you right now, everything we are getting back from the sampling that we are doing is below background level, there is not a reason for the general public is concerned…” Christy Todd Whitman, administrator of EPA, Sept 13th.
“We were horrified by that statement. We knew that very little monitoring had been done by that date and we strongly suspected political and economic concerns rather than it being based on public health.” – Dr. Stephen Levin, Mt. Sinai Center for Occupational & Environmental Medicine.
In fact by September 13 the EPA had only taken 10 ambient air samples in lower Manhattan according to the EPA’s own data, published later. According to a report later issued by (its) inspector general, the EPA’s reassuring statements that week were not based on science. They were based on White House policy.
“In the early days it was difficult for EPA to have access to information. Those that wanted to go in and set up monitors had trouble with access to electricity, access to equipment, and there weren’t analysts available. Certain toxins had not been tested. CEQ, EPA, and Occupation Safety and Health Administration worked together on the press releases. The White house had the final word so EPA did not feel they had ownership of those press releases.” – -Nikki Tinsley, Former Inspector General EPA.
“I am glad to reassure the people of New York ...that their air is safe to breathe….” Christy Todd Whitman, administrator of EPA, Sept 18th.
Final studies publish by the EPA and other government agencies found a devastating toxic soup containing over 2500 contaminates.
Over 400 tons of asbestos: Asbestos, once inhaled cannot be expelled by the lungs and causes various cancers.
90 thousand liters of jet fuel containing benzene. Benzene is a carcinogen that also suppresses the immune system and causes leukemia.
Mercury from over 500,000 fluorescent lights; mercury is toxic to the nervous system and especially the kidneys.
200,000 pounds of lead and cadmium from personal computers: Lead and cadmium are toxic to the respiratory tract and can also cause irreparable damage to the kidneys.
Up to 2 million pounds of PAH from the Diesel-fueled fires; polycystic aromatic hydrocarbons are the chemicals in cigarettes that cause lung, laryngeal, mouth and throat cancers.
130,000 gallons of transformer oil containing PCBs; PCBs commonly cause severe skin rashes and can also cause liver damage.
Crystalline silica from the 420,000 tons of concrete, sheetrock and glass: Tiny particulates in the dust itself lodge in the heart causing ischemic heart disease (myocardial infarction), often fatal.
“We could see people being pulled off of that pile, eyes streaming, gasping for breath, we knew very well that people were being exposed to irritant materials as well as cancer causing agents really, from the start.” Dr. Stephen Levin, Mt. Sinai Center for Occupational & Environmental Medicine.
“We were told that CEQ had a desire to protect the national security and to get Wall Street going, that was the reason the press releases were changed.” – Nikki Tinsley, Former Inspector General EPA.
September 13 EPA initiating Emergency response Activities: Testing Terrorized Sites for Environmental Hazards.
After CEQ revisions:
September 13 EPA initiating Emergency response Activities: Reassures Public about Environmental Hazards.
The original draft of the EPA press release of September 16th :
“samples…..showed levels of asbestos ranging from 2.1% to 3.3 %... EPA views a 1% level as a definition for asbestos-containing material.”
After the CEQ: September 16th: “..samples…contained small percentages of asbestos…slightly above the 1% trigger for defining asbestos material.”
More than 25% of the samples exceeded the 1% benchmark; a 0.5 % increase in asbestos can be just as dangerous as a 20% increase. Once you are in the danger zone it is deadly.
“At that level [the asbestos readings of 2.1%-3.3%] the area should have been evacuated because we had an assumed level of hazard, then testing should have been done and people allowed back in [when cleared].” – Cate Jenkins, Ph.D. Environmental Scientist, EPA.
Sept 16th “the concern raised by these samples would be for the workers at the cleanup site and for those workers…returning to their offices…on Sept 17th.”
This press release was not altered but simply deleted from the report.
At ground zero, over 5,000 workers per day began a clean-up process that lasted months. Below their feet, a fire continued to smolder until December 2001. They were not given respirators or basic equipment for months. When they were given the respirators, months later and too late, they didn’t wear them much because they were cumbersome. They were told it was okay; had they been warned, they would have worn them.
“ the air quality is safe and acceptable, I know there are people that are concerned about it or worried about it, but that’s just the reality.” – Mayor Giuliani, Sept 28th.
Stuyvesan High School reopens: “There was a huge drive to show the terrorist we were up and running. They say they have cleaned the building; the media is there [saying] look at these brave kids. Then they find out that the ventilation system was not cleaned. There were signs of illness very early on; rashes, nosebleeds, new onset asthma that can last all their lives, sinusitis needing steroids, chemical bronchitis etc.” – Stuyvesan High School Principal.
Conversely, at the pentagon, no one was allowed into the clean-up without the proper respirators, without washing down so there would not be air release. At the World Trade Center it was totally the opposite, people were let in without any protective gear, or with paper masks, or with the wrong type of respirator, and they were allowed to work with them off. It was months before any systematic decontamination procedures were put in place, such as decontamination wash down of vehicles leaving the site or even workers, washing off their shoes before breaking for lunch at the local eateries. These guys wore their clothes and shoes home, bringing the contamination to their families.
8,000 brave, selfless citizens have fallen severely ill so far, and we can expect many more in the future. They are spending their last years fighting with workman’s comp and social security just to get what is their due; meanwhile they are incapable of working and they watch the debt from unpaid heath care bills pile up, to be left on the shoulders of their impoverished families after they are gone.
In the class action suit filed against Christine Whitman in Feb of 2006 Federal Judge Deborah Batts denied the former EPA administrator immunity, writing that Whitman’s deliberate and misleading statements made to the press shocks the conscience.”
Her landmark ruling sets precedence for holding federal officials personally responsible for making official statements that might endanger the public.
In conclusion, not only did the government know that the rescuers were being exposed to toxic dust but they ordered misleading information to be released to the public, suppressed research, and encouraged residents and employees to return to the area knowing the health risk. They have since blocked funding of health programs because that would be an admission of guilt. Is this the way we support our troops? These were the men and women who were on the front lines in the early days and months after the attack.
“Everything that you try to do, whether it is an application process or a benefit that you are entitled to, you have to fight for. You know what, I would love to go out and work, but I can’t. We are neglected. We are the dust they are trying to sweep away, hope will blow away; we have become the lost souls and the dust that is still left at ground zero.” Bonnie Giebfried, EMT and first responder.
Much of the information for this article was obtained from the documentary, Dust to Dust directed by Heidi Dehncke-Fisher and Bruce Kennedy, aired on the Sundance Channel.