How well will the EPA decontaminate your building?    That depends on you. 

To make the best of an imperfect program, 9/11 Environmental Action suggests the following:

·           This is the most important person in your cleanup. 

He or she is responsible for coordinating and supervising the entire operation.

·           Designate one resident as the contact for your OSC. 

(Building management will also be in contact with the OSC.)

·           Be sure to read carefully the information packet that the EPA will send you.

It's not enough for the EPA to clean only your apartment.  Demand a Whole Building cleanup including common areas such as hallways, lobbies, laundry rooms, compactor rooms, and ventilation systems.  Common areas must be cleaned before individual apartments.  Otherwise your apartment could readily become re-contaminated.

·           Landlords and Co-op/Condo Boards can request a Whole Building cleanup.

·           Tenant associations can also register for a Whole Building cleanup, in which case the EPA will ask the building owner to grant access.

·           You, the individual tenant, can request a Whole Building cleanup by acting as your building representative.  Call your EPA On-site Coordinator (OSC) and insist that your entire building be cleaned before the cleanup of individual apartments.  To find out the name and phone number of your OSC, call Ben Barry at the EPA (212-637-3651).

·           The deadline for registering was December 28.  Given their inadequate outreach, it is essential that EPA re-open registration, and we are working with elected officials, scientists and other activists to persuade them to do so.  In the meantime, if you have registered to have your apartment cleaned, you can make a very persuasive argument to your OSC, pointing out that without a Whole Building cleanup, individual apartments are likely to be re-contaminated by toxic substances from the common areas of the building being tracked in, or moving into apartments on air currents. 

·           You are entitled to a copy of all inspection reports.

Be sure to get them from your OSC - before cleaning begins.

Carpets and Ventilation Systems

·           Carpeting and other “soft” (i.e., fabric) furnishings in the common areas cannot be completely decontaminated.  If you believe such items may have been contaminated by WTC dust (even if they look fine now), they should be removed, regardless of the results of any air testing.  If requested, the EPA will do this as part of the cleanup, but they will not pay for replacement of the furnishings.  But Red Cross will reimburse for these items (see reverse).

·           Ventilation systems will be evaluated by an ‘HVAC specialist’ during a walk-through inspection supervised by a ‘Monitoring Contractor.’  The Monitoring Contractor will also walk through and evaluate the common areas of your building.

·           It is essential that ventilation systems be thoroughly cleaned.  The system itself may contain contaminants, and it can also carry contaminants from one part of the building to another, and thus be a major source of re-contamination within the building.

·           The methods being employed to evaluate the ventilation systems are not reliable.  Some residents who have been told their vents were clean have felt it prudent to hire an independent industrial hygienist to evaluate the EPA report and conduct further testing.

·           9/11 Environmental Action strongly urges that residents DO NOT CHOOSE the EPA’s ‘testing only’ option.  This ‘test’ is only for asbestos.  If you don’t have asbestos, you won’t get any cleanup, even if you have other toxics such as dioxin, PCB’s, silica, fiberglass, chromium, cadmium, lead or mercury in your apartment.  You can switch your request from ‘testing only’ to ‘cleaning then testing’ by calling your monitoring contractor.  For the name and phone number of your monitoring contractor, call the EPA hotline at 877-796-5471.

·           We also urge residents to give serious consideration to having the EPA cleaning contractor remove carpets, upholstered furniture, drapes, and other “soft” furnishings from the apartment, since they cannot be thoroughly decontaminated.  The Red Cross will reimburse tenants for replacement of these items up to a total of approximately $3,500.  Call the Red Cross at 877-746-4987 for more information on this program.

·           The inspector who comes to your home for the pre-cleaning inspection should ask you which of your soft furnishings you wish to dispose of because you believe they were impacted by WTC dust.  The inspector is required to give you a form to apply for Red Cross reimbursement for replacing the soft furnishings.

·           Be sure any soft furnishings removed by the EPA are handled safely.  They should be misted and then sealed air-tight in plastic before removal.

·           Window wells/tracks are good “reservoirs” for contaminated dust.  Be sure the cleaning contractor does a good job in this area.

·           Room air conditioners and heating units, sleeves that hold through-the-wall models, as well as radiator covers and the “fins” of the radiators, are likely places for WTC dust to be lurking. 

·           The diligence and expertise of NYC DEP’s “cleanup” contractors cannot be relied upon.  If you plan to be present to monitor the cleaning, 9/11 Environmental Action suggests that you wear appropriate protective gear.  Children should not be in the apartment during cleaning activities.  See the EPA website for further information.

    Other contact information:   EPA Community Coordinator Ben Barry, 212-637-3651     EPA web site: www.epa.gov