What, Too Busy Screwing Up New Orleans? Grist, Nov. 30, 2005
http://www.grist.org/news/daily/2005/11/30/5/index.html
EPA abandons big cleanup plans near New York City's Ground Zero
The U.S. EPA is ditching ambitious cleanup plans for post-9/11 lower Manhattan and Brooklyn, disbanding a panel of scientists, community leaders, and local officials that has met for 20 months on the matter. The panel's efforts -- to devise a comprehensive decontamination plan for homes and businesses in the path of dust and debris from the collapse of the World Trade Center towers -- stalled last month, after experts rejected as unreliable a government proposal to use insulation material as a marker for establishing that Twin Towers dust was present. EPA now says it will simply repeat past efforts to clean apartments in lower Manhattan only -- excluding businesses, and Brooklyn. Catherine McVay Hughes, a community liaison to the panel, is unimpressed, saying, "It looks like the EPA is giving residents a second chance at a plan that was neither comprehensive nor acceptable in the first place."
straight to the source: The New York Times, Anthony DePalma, 30 Nov 2005
Back to TopEPA to Reduce Testing of Ground Zero, by Genevieve Smith, OMB Reg•Watch Blog, November 30, 2005
http://www.ombwatch.org/article/blogs/entry/1327/23
In a slap in the face to resident of New York City, EPA released yesterday a reduced testing plan for contaminants released in the collapse of the World Trade Center. EPA backed away from initial broader testing plan that included parts of Brooklyn and areas north of Canal Street in Manhattan. From the Washington Post:The fires at Ground Zero burned for three months, and western Brooklyn sat directly within the smoke-and-dust plume from the World Trade Center. But EPA officials said that their tests have not been able to distinguish between World Trade Center contamination and the dust and detritus of normal urban life.
"We would prefer to go further, but the science won't let us," said E. Timothy Oppelt, an EPA official who has chaired an expert technical review panel intended to guide the testing. "We can't be whimsical."
The EPA also announced Tuesday that it is shutting down Oppelt's review panel -- which includes toxicologists, doctors, environmentalists and residents. The committee was supposed to meet monthly but has not convened since July.
The panel will hold a final meeting in December, and that meeting will be shorter than usual.
"It's crucial for this panel to continue," said Suzanne Mattei, New York City executive of the Sierra Club, which has issued several studies on Ground Zero-related contamination. "If we can't get a proper response after a disaster of this magnitude, what's the point of having a federal government?"
In a statement on the testing, Sen. Hilary Clinton lamented that "[t]he panel has not even begun to meet its mandate to identify unmet public health needs," she said. More on EPA's testing plans and the panel.
Posted by Genevieve Smith
Back to TopEPA Plans to Test 9-11 Dust, by Kathryn Herzog, WNYC Radio, November 30, 2005
http://www.wnyc.org/news/articles/54505
NEW YORK, NY, The Environmental Protection Agency has offered its final plan for testing dust left from the World Trade Center collapse in Lower Manhattan. WNYC's Kathryn Herzog reports.The $7 million plan calls for testing of any dust lingering in private homes and businesses south of Canal Street and west of Pike and Allen streets. The tests are for asbestos, lead and other toxins left over from the World Trade Center attacks nearly four years ago.
New York lawmakers including Senator Hillary Clinton and Congressman Jerald Nadler, derided the plan as too little too late. Nadler has called for a more expanded testing area, and more extensive testing of buildings hit with the blowing clouds of dust.
The EPA's review panel on air pollution from the Trade Center was created after lawmakers complained the agency prematurely assured New Yorkers it posed no health threat. The EPA intends to end the review panel's work next month.
Back to Top9/11 Air Testing Called 'Too Little, Too Late', 1010 WINS, November 30, 2005, 11:40 am US/Eastern
http://1010wins.com/topstories/local_story_334115242.html
The government offered its final plan for testing lower Manhattan buildings for leftover dust from the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attack. Lawmakers derided the move Tuesday as too little, too late.The Environmental Protection Agency issued its plan for testing any dust that may remain in private homes and commercial space from the collapse of the World Trade Center more than four years ago. The $7 million effort covers Manhattan south of Canal Street and west of Pike and Allen streets, testing samples for asbestos, lead and other substances that could pose health risks.
The agency hopes the testing will "provide assurances to people living and working in lower Manhattan who have remaining concerns about the presence of dust from the World Trade Center collapse,'' the head of the EPA's technical review panel, Timothy Oppelt, said in a statement.
New York lawmakers including Sen. Hillary Clinton and Rep. Jerrold Nadler, both Democrats, had criticized past EPA testing efforts and demanded more thorough scientific work.
They said the plan announced Tuesday fell well short of what was needed, particularly because the agency intends to end the review panel's work next month.
"The EPA's proposal today to disband the panel after the next meeting is unacceptable,'' Clinton said in a statement. "The panel has not even begun to meet its mandate to identify unmet public health needs.''
Nadler, whose district includes ground zero, was even more caustic, calling the EPA's plan "a breathtaking slap at the residents and workers of lower Manhattan.''
The review panel was created after Clinton and Nadler complained the agency prematurely assured New Yorkers that air pollution from 1.8 million tons of World Trade Center debris posed no health threat.
Nadler has called for a more expanded testing area and more extensive testing of buildings hit with blowing clouds of World Trade Center dust.
© MMV Infinity Broadcasting Corp. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. In the interest of timeliness, this story is fed directly from the newswire and may contain occasional typographical errors.
EPA to sample for WTC dust, by Heather Moyer, Disaster News Network, November 30, 2005
http://www.disasternews.net/news/news.php?articleid=2976
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- The Environmental Protection Agency announced Tuesday that it will proceed with a modified plan to sample and clean buildings in Manhattan that were affected by the cloud of dust sent out when the World Trade Center was attacked on Sept. 11.The announcement came a month after the agency's own peer review panel rejected the original sampling plan because "EPA has not made the case that its proposed analytical method can reliably discriminate background dust from dust contaminated with WTC residue....The proposed method has not demonstrated the utility of slag wool as a successful signature constituent."
The plan was devised by members of the EPA's World Trade Center Expert Technical Review Panel during its 21-month existence. The panel, made up of public health officials, scientists, educational leaders and community representatives, was formed to "characterize any remaining exposures and risks, identify unmet public health needs, and recommend any steps to further minimize the risks associated with the aftermath of the World Trade Center attacks."
Extensive debate amongst the panel members and the public ensued as the sampling plan was created, with many - including panel members - saying that it was inadequate and would not protect the public's health.
In a letter released Tuesday, panel chair Dr. Timothy Oppelt said they will proceed with the plan detailed on pages 19-21 of the draft released in June of this year. He noted that while many members of the panel offered up new suggestions on how to do an effective sampling and cleaning plan, "...given the significant amount of time that has lapsed since the collapse and since the formation of the panel, we believe it is more important at this point to move ahead with the implementation of sampling."
The plan outlined on pages 19-21 of the June draft is very similar to the sampling and cleaning program offered to Lower Manhattan residents in the months immediately after Sept. 11. The plan will sample buildings in a selected area of Lower Manhattan whose owners and residents volunteer for the testing. One change in the plan is that air sampling for asbestos and man-made vitreous fibers will now be included, in addition to surface sampling. According to the final plan, "cleanups will be offered if either the surface loadings or air benchmarks are exceeded." The public has two months to register for the testing.
The final plan also states that "employers and employees will not be eligible for this program," and alternatively may file a complaint with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration if they "believe that their working conditions are unsafe or unhealthful as a result of contamination by WTC dust."
The reaction from the community is one of disappointment. For David Newman, an industrial hygienist with the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH), the plan is a failure.
"I think it's a terrible plan," said Newman, who also served on the panel. Newman is not surprised by the plan, though, saying he knew something like this would be produced once the peer review returned in October.
"Probably the only thing positive I can say about this plan is that it includes three additional (contaminants of particular concern) to be tested for. But the plan really fails and is inadequate to accomplish its mission."
Since the peer review panel rejected the June sampling plan a month ago, community activists and panel members have been hedging their bets on just what was next for the plan. Many were not surprised at the peer review rejection, but remained worried about what the next step would be.
"The peer reviewers made most of the same comments that our team did," said Kimberly Flynn of 9/11 Environmental Action. Flynn said she and many of her fellow Lower Manhattan residents assumed the agency was in disarray once the rejection came down.
The plan will be discussed at a December 13 meeting of the panel - which Oppelt also announced will be the final meeting of the panel.
To Newman, that means the panel has not fulfilled its mission. "The mission of the panel is pretty clear, and it's pretty clear that we have not achieved or accomplished the mission set out for us. None of that has happened. It's just a disappointing retreat from the EPA's and the panel's mandate - and the EPA's statutory mission to protect environmental health."
Newman said he expects the level of outrage from the public will be high at the December meeting, and once the panel is disbanded, that the outrage will continue through the work of the residential and labor community around the city. "People who are concerned and who have been affected will continue to be active around these issues. It's just unfortunate that the opportunity to address this in a focused manner is coming to an end."
Copyright © 2005-2006 Disaster News Network Inc. All Rights Reserved
E.P.A. Changes Cleanup Plans Near Ground Zero, by Anthony DePalma, New York Times, November 30, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/30/nyregion/30epa.html
Abandoning an ambitious cleanup plan for Lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn, federal environmental officials said yesterday that they would clean, at no cost, any apartment south of Canal Street with unacceptable levels of contaminants from the collapse of the World Trade Center.
The Environmental Protection Agency said that under the scaled-down program, all residents south of Canal can ask to have their apartments tested for four types of hazardous materials. Those where contaminants exceed benchmark levels set by the E.P.A. will be cleaned free, officials said. No workplaces will be tested, and Brooklyn will be excluded altogether.
The revised plan represents the failure of a technical panel of scientists, local officials and community representatives to agree on the final details of the original, more comprehensive plan. After nearly two years of often rancorous debate and negotiation, the panel was stalled. More than four years have passed since the terrorist attack on the twin towers.
Although most offices and commercial spaces are left out of the new plan, commercial landlords can ask to have common areas and ventilation systems tested.
The $7 million voluntary cleanup program duplicates a similar effort in 2002 and 2003 in which 4,100 apartments were decontaminated. Many residents complained that the cleanups were uncoordinated and ineffective. Worried that their buildings had been recontaminated by dust from apartments that were never cleaned, they demanded that the agency conduct more tests.
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Democrat of New York, pushed the agency to form a technical panel of experts in March 2004 to help address the issue. After many contentious meetings with residents, the panel devised an ambitious plan that would have sampled a range of residential and commercial buildings in Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn.
But that plan was abandoned after experts last month rejected as unreliable the government's proposal to use insulation material as a marker to determine that World Trade Center dust - and not just ordinary urban pollution - was present.
After putting time and effort into finding a marker, the agency's efforts were left in disarray. The technical panel has not met since July.
In a letter to members of the panel, E. Timothy Oppelt, the interim chairman, said he did not believe that it made sense to spend more time trying to find a marker for trade center dust. So much time has already passed since the towers collapsed, he said, that it is "more important at this point to move ahead with implementation of sampling." The panel will be terminated at the end of its public meeting on Dec. 13.
The panel's abrupt end, and the agency's limited test-and-clean plan, seemed to please almost no one.
"The plan ignores many of the recommendations made by the World Trade Center Expert Technical Review Panel over the last 20 months," Senator Clinton said in a statement. She called the decision to disband the panel unacceptable and said it had not even begun to identify unmet public health needs associated with the aftermath of Sept. 11.
"I will be fighting to ensure that the panel completes this important task," she said.
Downtown residents and some members of the expert panel criticized the agency for ignoring many of their concerns and for coming up with a plan that will not ensure the safety of their neighborhood.
"It looks like the E.P.A. is giving residents a second chance at a plan that was neither comprehensive nor acceptable in the first place," said Catherine McVay Hughes, who lives a few blocks from ground zero and is a community liaison to the technical panel.
Officials said that although the new program covers the same area as the first cleanup in 2003, only residents whose apartments were not cleaned before will be eligible to have their apartments tested and cleaned now.
David M. Newman, an industrial hygienist who is also a member of the expert panel, said the revised plan did not comply with the agency's original mandate to retest the apartments that were cleaned in 2002 and 2003 to ensure that they were not recontaminated.
"The E.P.A. has cut its losses and run, to the detriment of the people who live and work in Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn," Mr. Newman said.
Manhattan residents will have two months to sign up for the program. Inspectors will take dust samples from floors, windowsills and what are called inaccessible locations, like those above suspended ceilings.
Air samples will also be taken.
Inspectors will look for four contaminants: asbestos, lead, man-made vitreous fiber and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which were produced in the fires that burned at ground zero.
If any contaminant exceeds accepted levels, the apartments will be cleaned. Micki Siegel de Hernandez, the health and safety director for District 1 of the Communications Workers of America and the technical panel's labor liaison, said the environmental agency had consistently ignored workers since the collapse of the towers.
"I'm not surprised that this is the final plan," she said. "But to just shut down the panel process is the final slap in the face to all of us who are involved in this process."
Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
EPA to Scale Back Testing at Ground Zero, by Michael Powell, Washington Post Staff Writer. November 30, 2005; A10
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/29/AR2005112901793.html
NEW YORK, Nov. 29 -- The Environmental Protection Agency announced Tuesday that it will no longer test for World Trade Center dust contamination in Brooklyn and north of Canal Street in Manhattan, a reduced testing plan that has outraged many politicians and health advocates.
The $7 million testing plan also excludes buildings slated for demolition. The EPA will test for four toxic contaminants -- asbestos, lead, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, known as PAHs, and man-made vitreous fibers -- released when the twin towers collapsed in the 2001 terrorist attacks.
If enough apartments or offices test positive for contamination, the EPA will send in cleanup crews. The agency lacks authority to require landlords to conduct cleanups.
"This testing and cleanup plan is a breathtaking slap at the residents and workers of Lower Manhattan," Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said in a statement Tuesday. "Once again, EPA is quite callously demonstrating that the health and safety of those affected by 9/11 are simply not a priority."
The fires at Ground Zero burned for three months, and western Brooklyn sat directly within the smoke-and-dust plume from the World Trade Center. But EPA officials said that their tests have not been able to distinguish between World Trade Center contamination and the dust and detritus of normal urban life.
"We would prefer to go further, but the science won't let us," said E. Timothy Oppelt, an EPA official who has chaired an expert technical review panel intended to guide the testing. "We can't be whimsical."
The EPA also announced Tuesday that it is shutting down Oppelt's review panel -- which includes toxicologists, doctors, environmentalists and residents. The committee was supposed to meet monthly but has not convened since July.
The panel will hold a final meeting in December, and that meeting will be shorter than usual.
"It's crucial for this panel to continue," said Suzanne Mattei, New York City executive of the Sierra Club, which has issued several studies on Ground Zero-related contamination. "If we can't get a proper response after a disaster of this magnitude, what's the point of having a federal government?"
EPA officials described Tuesday's decision as strictly routine and guided by science. But the EPA's performance and candor has come under fire since the first days after Sept. 11, 2001. Then-EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman said, "I am glad to reassure the people of New York that their air is safe to breathe."
At that time EPA tests at Ground Zero had already found elevated levels of dioxin, PCBs, lead and chromium, all of which are toxic. Later, the EPA found benzene, a colorless liquid that evaporates quickly and can cause leukemia in long-term exposure, measuring 58 times greater than federal limits. The EPA did not release these results for two weeks, in what a spokeswoman described at the time as an oversight.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) forced the EPA to establish the review panel, and she called its disbanding "unacceptable."
"The panel has not even begun to meet its mandate to identify unmet public health needs," she said.
2005 The Washington Post Company
Tests to target dust from 9/11, by Paul D. Colford, New York Daily News, November 30th, 2005
http://www.nydailynews.com/11-30-2005/news/story/370138p-314882c.html
Homes and businesses in lower Manhattan will be tested for dust and other contaminants released on 9/11, the federal Environmental Protection Agency announced yesterday.
The $7 million program will target the area south of Canal St. and west of Pike and Allen Sts.
It will include a cleanup of spaces found to have excessive levels of asbestos, lead, manmade vitreous fibers - such as Fiberglas - and hydrocarbons typically removed from the atmosphere through precipitation.
Timothy Oppelt, interim chairman of the World Trade Center Expert Technical Review Panel, which advised the EPA, said the federal agency wants "to provide assurances to people living and working in lower Manhattan who have remaining concerns about the presence of dust from the World Trade Center collapse."
He added, "If EPA finds contaminants that exceed cleanup benchmarks, we will offer a cleaning for those units."
Between 2002 and 2003, the EPA funded the cleanup of 3,400 apartments in lower Manhattan that had elevated levels of airborne asbestos.
Yesterday's announcement came 20 months after the Technical Review Panel was convened by the EPA to review data and suggest ways to minimize lingering health risks tied to 9/11.
Detailed information on the EPA's program is available at www.epa.gov/wtc/panel. A public meeting is set for Dec. 13 at the Alexander Hamilton Custom House at Bowling Green.
All contents © 2005 Daily News, L.P.
EPA offers final Sept. 11 dust testing plan for lower Manhattan buildings, by Devlin Barrett, Associated Press Writer, November 29, 2005
http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ny--attacks-airtests1129nov29,0,6697607.story & http://www.wnbc.com/health/5430697/detail.html
WASHINGTON -- The government offered its final plan for testing lower Manhattan buildings for leftover dust from the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attack. Lawmakers derided the move Tuesday as too little, too late.
The Environmental Protection Agency issued its plan for testing any dust that may remain in private homes and commercial space from the collapse of the World Trade Center more than four years ago. The $7 million effort covers Manhattan south of Canal Street and west of Pike and Allen streets, testing samples for asbestos, lead and other substances that could pose health risks.
The agency hopes the testing will "provide assurances to people living and working in lower Manhattan who have remaining concerns about the presence of dust from the World Trade Center collapse," the head of the EPA's technical review panel, Timothy Oppelt, said in a statement.
New York lawmakers including Sen. Hillary Clinton and Rep. Jerrold Nadler, both Democrats, had criticized past EPA testing efforts and demanded more thorough scientific work.
They said the plan announced Tuesday fell well short of what was needed, particularly because the agency intends to end the review panel's work next month.
"The EPA's proposal today to disband the panel after the next meeting is unacceptable," Clinton said in a statement. "The panel has not even begun to meet its mandate to identify unmet public health needs."
Nadler, whose district includes ground zero, was even more caustic, calling the EPA's plan "a breathtaking slap at the residents and workers of lower Manhattan."
The review panel was created after Clinton and Nadler complained the agency prematurely assured New Yorkers that air pollution from 1.8 million tons of World Trade Center debris posed no health threat.
Nadler has called for a more expanded testing area and more extensive testing of buildings hit with blowing clouds of World Trade Center dust.
Copyright © 2005, The Associated Press
EPA Reduces Area for World Trade Center Dust Testing, by David M. Levitt, Bloomberg News, November 29, 2005
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, in a final plan issued today, reduced the area of New York City where buildings are to be retested for residual contamination from the collapse of the World Trade Center more than four years ago.
The testing area now covers all of lower Manhattan south of Canal Street and west of Pike and Allen streets, which are near the Manhattan Bridge. In May, the agency doubled the testing zone and included northwestern Brooklyn.
In a statement, the agency said it plans to test for four contaminants -- asbestos, lead, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, known as PAHs, and man-made vitreous fibers released when the twin towers collapsed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"If EPA finds contaminants that exceed cleanup benchmarks, we will offer a cleaning for those units,'' said E. Timothy Oppelt, interim chairman of the EPA panel that has been leading the agency's effort to deal with the remaining toxic dust.
The move follows the rejection last month by a committee of scientists of an EPA effort to identify a "signature'' for trade center dust. The agency had based more than a year of planning for the retest on identifying a single substance unique to the towers' remains -- pulverized fibers of insulation known as "slag wool' -- to differentiate trade center dust from background pollution.
Clinton Criticism
U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has been monitoring the agency's efforts, called the plan inadequate.
"It fails to correct the major problems identified by the EPA's inspector general in 2003,'' Clinton, a New York Democrat, said in an e-mailed statement.
The senator, citing the inspector general's report said there was no scientific basis for limiting the testing area.
The Sierra Club, an environmental organization, issued a statement opposing the reduction of the search area. The group also criticized the EPA's decision to terminate the World Trade Center Expert Technical Review Panel led by Oppelt, which brought local toxicologists, environmental experts, labor representatives and community officials together to guide the effort.
"This is a very bad step in the wrong direction,'' said Suzanne Mattei, a Sierra Club executive, in a phone interview. "It means the EPA is going to lose credibility with the public, and they've already got a problem with that.''
Last Meeting
The panel is to hold its final meeting Dec. 13 from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the U.S. Customs House at One Bowling Green. The meeting is open to the public.
Clinton, who played a lead role in persuading the EPA to form the panel, called its disbanding "unacceptable.''
"The panel has not even begun to meet its mandate to identify unmet public health needs and recommend steps to further minimize the risks associated with the aftermath of the World Trade Center attacks,'' she said in her statement. "I will be fighting to ensure that the panel completes this important task.''
Oppelt, in an interview, said once the bid to find a dust signature failed, the agency decided to go back to the original testing area used in a 2002-2003 testing and cleanup effort, which resulted in a program to remove contaminants from 4,300 lower Manhattan apartments.
"That area was chosen based on satellite imagery and images
on the ground that showed those were the areas of heaviest dust contamination,'' he said.
"We actually added a buffer up to Canal Street. Chambers Street was really the
boundary of the very heaviest dust.''
Falling Deutsche glass hits Albany St., by Ronda Kaysen, Downtown Express, Volume 18 • Issue 28 | Nov. 25 - Dec. 2, 2005
http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_133/fallingdeutscheglass.html
Glass fell from the damaged Deutsche Building onto the street last week, the second such incident in the last 14 months. Officials with the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation say new safeguards have been implemented to prevent a third incident.
Fragments of glass fell from the former Deutsche Bank building onto a sidewalk shed and onto Albany St. last week. Although there were no injuries, the incident raised concerns from neighborhood residents about safety at the building, which is being demolished.
The 40-story tower, at 130 Liberty St., was badly damaged and contaminated in the World Trade Center disaster. The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, which owns the building, began to erect scaffolding and clean the tower in September. A floor-by-floor deconstruction will begin early next year.
In high wind on Wednesday afternoon, Nov. 16, fragments from a 3-foot by 3-foot windowpane on the south side of the building came loose. Some of the glass fell through the perimeter protection area, but a few pieces fell first onto the sidewalk shed and then onto the street, which is open to traffic and pedestrians. Bovis Lend Lease, L.M.D.C.’s contractor, briefly closed the street to pedestrians.
Workers secured the remaining glass and installed cantilevers off of the sidewalk shed. They also plan to install similar cantilevers over the Greenwich St. shed, when it is installed next month. The contractors also checked all the glass in the building to be sure it is structurally sound and installed wire mesh over exposed windows. As scaffolding continues to go up along the building, each pane that becomes exposed will be re-inspected and covered with wire mesh.
"All of the additional precautions we’ve taken should lessen the chance of something like this happening in the future," said John Gallagher, L.M.D.C. spokesperson.
Last week’s incident has heightened concern among nearby residents who have long worried that the damaged building in their midst is a risk to their safety.
"We feel vulnerable, we really do. In some ways, we feel like sitting ducks," said Pat Moore, a resident of 125 Cedar St., which is directly across the street from the building. Moore is also chairperson of the Quality of Life Taskforce for Community Board 1. "I have to walk past the building now looking up, worrying that a guillotine of glass is coming down on me."
The L.M.D.C.’s deconstruction plan was approved by the Environmental Protection Agency in September, after a lengthy review process. In the event of a serious emergency, the Office of Emergency Management will step in, delegating responsibilities to the responsible agency.
The corporation hopes the efforts their contractors took to secure the glass on the tower will put residents at ease. "I hope that will help to allay some of the concerns," said Gallagher.
This is not the first time glass has fallen from 130 Liberty St. In Sept. 2004, glass debris fell onto Greenwich St., causing the development corporation to close the street and a pedestrian bridge for several days. There were no injuries during that incident, either.
"Is this going to continue to happen?" said Moore who has long advocated for an emergency response plan led by the L.M.D.C. for the community. "There are a lot of things happening in our corner of the world and we’re worried about a lot of things. Someone needs to be thinking: worse case scenario, what would we do about it?"
Ronda@DowntownExpress.com
City To Get Back 125M In 9/11 Aid, by Jonathan Lemire, New York Daily News, November 23, 2005
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/local/story/368206p-313316c.html
Relenting to political pressure from New York lawmakers, Congress has done an abrupt about-face and pledged to reinstate $125 million in aid to 9/11 first-responders.
"The money will go to where it rightfully belongs, to those who responded so heroically on Sept. 11," Rep. Vito Fossella (R-S.I.) said yesterday. "We will now be able to help them in return."
House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) pledged to preserve the endangered funds, which are earmarked for cops, firefighters and other workers battling health issues related to the World Trade Center collapse.
"I want to give you my full assurance that we will provide this money to New York this year," Hastert wrote in a letter to Fossella. "The bill we send the President for signature will include the $125 million."
The money was part of a $20 billion aid package President Bush pledged to New York following the 9/11 attacks, but the feds threatened to take it back, charging the state was too slow in spending it. Hastert's letter promised the House would include the money in a December bill designed to fund the recovery from hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
The decision drew praise from New York Sens. Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton - who both fought to have the funds reinstated - and the Senate has already indicated it favors of the restoration.
The FDNY applauded the greater flexibility of the fund: of the $125 million, about $50 million will go for workers' compensation, while the rest can be used to finance treatment of existing and future illnesses.
All contents © 2005 Daily News, L.P.
Pataki Says He Will Maintain Leading Role At Ground Zero, by Amy Westfeldt, Newsday, November 22, 2005
http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ny--attacks-redevelop1122nov22,0,1500697.story
Gov. George E. Pataki said Tuesday he would maintain a leading role in ground zero redevelopment until he leaves office at the end of 2006, dismissing talk of ceding control of the rebuilding to an increasingly interested Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Pataki, who met with Bloomberg last week to discuss their visions for the 16-acre World Trade Center site, called the relationship a successful partnership in which he and the mayor agree on redevelopment issues "more than 99 percent of the time."
But in an interview with The Associated Press, Pataki said that his involvement in rebuilding would not change.
"The mayor and I are making a very clear statement that we are going to personally continue to be deeply involved and that's the way it should be," he said. "I couldn't be any more involved."
"There's nothing more important" than redevelopment of the site, he added.
Bloomberg's office didn't immediately return a message seeking comment.
Pataki has called the rebuilding of downtown Manhattan a centerpiece of his legacy, and appointed chief of staff John Cahill earlier this year to head efforts to build office towers, a memorial to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, retail and arts space at the site.
Bloomberg has largely allowed Pataki to take the lead in downtown redevelopment since 2002, instead pursuing bids, which failed, to bring the Olympics to New York and a stadium to the far West Side. But shortly before his re-election, he became more vocal about ground zero, proposing that schools and apartments replace some of the planned office space and suggesting that trade center developer Larry Silverstein be removed.
Silverstein has a lease with the site owner, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, that entitles him to rebuild 10 million square feet of office space destroyed on Sept. 11.
Pataki said Tuesday it was important to build a "critical mass" of commercial space at the site, but left open the possibility for other kinds of development if demand wasn't sufficient for all of the planned office space.
"I don't know that 10 million is the magic number," the governor said. "Down the road, I'm not going to project where things might be with office space demand five, 10 years from now."
Gov Bends On WTC, by Tom Topousis, New York Post, November 23, 2005http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/nypost/930696351.html?did=930696351&FMT=ABS&FMTS=FT&date=Nov+23%2C+2005&author=Tom+Topousis&pub=New+York+Post&desc=GOV+BENDS+ON+WTC
Plans to rebuild all the office space lost at the World Trade Center could be scaled back depending on market conditions over the next five to 10 years, Gov. Pataki said yesterday in a softening of his position on Ground Zero.Pataki had insisted that all 10 million square feet of office space needs to be rebuilt to generate jobs and to retain lower Manhattan's position as the unofficial financial capital of the world - a strategy that has come under fire from Mayor Bloomberg.
Pataki still maintains it is important to build a "critical mass" of office space at the site but he's now opening the door to other possible development should the demand for offices fall short of what's now proposed.
"I don't know that 10 million is the magic number," the governor said. "Down the road, I'm not going to project where things might be with office-space demand five, 10 years from now."
Bloomberg has crossed swords with Pataki as he has pushed for a mixture of office space with residential, commercial and hotel uses in the five towers slated for the trade center.
Apartments Ahead? by Davidson Goldin, New York Sun, November 25, 2005http://www.nysun.com/article/23539
When Mayor Bloomberg first mused last month about apartment buildings at the World Trade Center site, City Hall aides privately whispered that their boss was fantasizing about a perfect world rather than previewing a plan of action for his second term. But since the election, Mr. Bloomberg has ramped up the apartment-talk and he now seems determined to exert control over the rebuilding process. Apartments are likely after all.At first glance, Mr. Bloomberg is on a collision course with Governor Pataki - who has been pushing to rebuild the entire 10 million square feet of office space lost on September 11. Mr. Pataki initially said he was "perplexed" by Mr. Bloomberg's desire for apartments, and just last week told me he told me he doesn't see "any need for any public discussion beyond what occurs in the normal circumstance." But the two leaders agree about much more than they disagree about.
Mr. Pataki is concerned primarily with the three most symbolic parts of the redevelopment process: the Freedom Tower, the transit hub, and the memorial. Mr. Bloomberg is firmly on board with these iconic structures. Their dispute involves only the eastern strip of the site along Church Street, which is most easily described as the long block across from the Century 21 department store.
A year ago this month, Mr. Bloomberg signed on to the master plan calling for three office buildings - Towers Two, Three, and Four - to line the street. Mr. Bloomberg now objects to two of those buildings, totaling about a third of the office space planned for the entire site. Mr. Bloomberg argues that Lower Manhattan should be a 24-hour community that doesn't revolve solely around the financial industry. He also argues that Lower Manhattan simply can't absorb all the office space the World Trade Center complex once provided.
Notably, none of those objections involves any of the projects nearest and dearest to Mr. Pataki's personal and political priorities. In fact, the governor's aides concede Mr. Pataki's interest in using Towers Two, Three, and Four as office space is based on his concern that the site's developer, Larry Silverstein, won't meet other commitments if those office towers - which will theoretically generate substantial revenue some day - go away.
But Mr. Silverstein's track record inspires something short of 100% confidence. He does deserve incalculable credit for quickly building World Trade Center Seven, on the northern part of the site. While government-led projects stumble and stall, the one building entirely under Mr. Silverstein's control is virtually finished. That's a fantastic accomplishment, and Mr. Silverstein has definitively proven that he can build quickly and efficiently. But buildings need tenants, and Mr. Silverstein has announced none - despite generous taxpayer funded cash incentives for any business willing to move in.
Just last weekend, Mr. Silverstein distributed a glossy newspaper insert practically begging businesses to move into his state-of-the art building. Most office buildings line up tenants before construction begins. Mr. Silverstein instead relied on the wishful "Field of Dreams" doctrine - "If you build it, they will come" - that is better suited for the movies than billion-dollar construction projects.
Most ominously, even the Port Authority - which owns the trade center land - won't commit to moving into any of the new buildings. The Freedom Tower, like Tower Seven, is being built "on spec" with no guaranteed tenants.
Mr. Silverstein finds himself in a difficult situation that is largely not his fault. The developer took over the 16-acre complex just weeks before the September 11 attacks and still pays $10 million a month in rent. But his inability to find any tenants proves Mr. Bloomberg's point that downtown needs more than office towers.
Mr. Silverstein's most powerful ally is Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, whose district includes the entire World Trade Center complex. Mr. Silver lashed out at the mayor's demand for apartments and also a hotel by labeling the idea "absurd" and vowing to block any proposal that would jeopardize his district's status as the world's financial capital. While Mr. Silver wields enormous power, he might not be able to save Mr. Silverstein.
Earlier this year, Mr. Pataki lost patience with Mr. Silverstein when the developer asked Albany to help pay for security enhancements to the Freedom Tower. When Mr. Pataki retaliated by exploring how the state's eminent domain power could condemn Mr. Silverstein's lease, Mr. Silverstein quickly got the hint and stopped complaining.
Now the mayor is the one itching to strip Mr. Silverstein's control. He has suggested the Port Authority could sell the land under Towers Three and Four to another developer more willing to consider housing options, and the mayor has also accused of Mr. Silverstein of scaring off tenants by charging too much rent. Mr. Silverstein's alliance with Mr. Silver puts an even bigger bull's eye on the target.
Mr. Bloomberg is still furious at Mr. Silver for blocking his dream of a West Side stadium over the summer. The stadium may be off the table, but Mr. Bloomberg still envisions a new commercial district on the Far West Side that would be served by an expansion of the No. 7 subway line. Mr. Bloomberg would be quite content to shift office space uptown.
Mr. Silverstein needs to lock up tenants fast for Seven World Trade Center because an empty office tower is the mayor's strongest argument for shifting from office space to apartments. The mayor just won re-election by a big margin, and the governor is gearing up for presidential politics. If the Freedom Tower, transit hub, and memorial stay on track, look for Mr. Pataki to give Mr. Bloomberg a win on this fight. After all, apartments are a lot less controversial than the commuter tax.
Kennedy Rail Link Gets Boost, by Joseph Mallia, Newsday, November 17, 2005 http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/manhattan/nyc-rail1117,0,573849.story A $2-billion tax credit for a proposed rail link to connect lower Manhattan to Kennedy Airport has cleared a major obstacle in the U.S. Senate.The credit was included in a tax bill reported out of the finance committee Tuesday night.
"This is a tremendous shot in the arm," said Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) as he awaited a vote on full Senate passage of the $60-billion tax reconciliation bill, which he predicted would come today.
"It's certain to pass the Senate. The president is on board, the Senate is on board. Now we have to persuade the House," he said.
The project is still in the planning stage, with some officials favoring an East River tunnel. A state transportation bond act, approved by voters Nov. 8, earmarked $100 million for rail link planning and studies.
With an estimated total cost of $6 billion, it would also require Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Port Authority money.
The $2 billion represents the last installment of $26 billion in aid promised by President George W. Bush to New York State after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, Schumer said.
After Senate passage, the tax bill would go to a joint congressional conference committee, where Senate and House versions will be reconciled. The resulting bill, once approved, would be sent to the president.
In a statement, Gov. George Pataki called the Senate action "a critical step forward in making the lower Manhattan rail link a reality," adding, "I look forward to this bill being approved by the full Senate, and call upon the House to act in concert with the Senate and help secure this important funding."
Rail Link to Benefit From Unused 9/11 Aid, by Raymond Hernandez, New York Times, November 17, 2005
http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F30D16FC3A5A0C748DDDA80994DD404482
The Senate is set to approve a measure that would allow New York officials to use $2 billion in unused Sept. 11 aid to build a rail link connecting the World Trade Center site to the Long Island Rail Road and Kennedy International Airport, Congressional officials said on Wednesday.It is the first significant effort by Congress to fulfill a request that New York officials made last year to finance the rail link project with unused parts of a $5 billion tax-incentive package. Washington had approved the package shortly after the terror attack to encourage the construction of office towers, residential buildings and retail shops in Lower Manhattan.
The fate of the rail link project is still uncertain in the House, where conservatives, who are increasingly alarmed about the growing federal deficit, have been averse to redirecting the remaining 9/11 dollars to the rail link project.
A senior Republican aide said last night that it was too early to determine how the House would respond.
Nevertheless, city and state officials said they were encouraged by the developments in the Senate and immediately called on Republican leaders in the House to follow suit, saying that the rail link was a vital part of efforts to rebuild Lower Manhattan.
In a statement, Gov. George E. Pataki, a Republican, urged the House "to act in concert with the Senate and help secure this important funding," arguing that the rail link would help restore "tens of thousands of jobs" lost as a result of the attacks.
Daniel L. Doctoroff, the deputy mayor for economic development, said that getting the money from Washington would ensure that "the federal government keeps its promise to New York to help in the rebuilding after Sept. 11."
Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
Gov Nixes Bill Giving 9/11 Aid To Private Paramedics, by Joe Mahoney, New York Daily News, November 16, 2005
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/nydailynews/927163821.html?did=927163821&FMT=ABS&FMTS=FT&date=Nov+16%2C+2005&author=Joe+Mahoney&pub=New+York+Daily+News&desc=GOV+NIXES+BILL+GIVING+9%2F11+AID+TO+PRIVATE+PARAMEDICS
Gov. Pataki rejected a bill last night that would have given the city's private ambulance workers the same 9/11 disability benefits already extended to city paramedics and other municipal workers.
In rejecting the legislation championed by powerful Local 1199 union leader Dennis Rivera, Pataki cited "serious technical defects" and expressed concern that benefits would not be limited to a small class of employees, as advocates claimed.
The veto was a huge setback to people like former paramedic Marvin Bethea, 45, of Kew Garden Hills, Queens. Had he worked for the FDNY rather than St. John's Queens Hospital, he would likely qualify for a disability pension at three-quarters pay after he developed health problems after responding to the World Trade Center collapse on Sept. 11, 2001.
Bethea said a host of health problems, including asthma, forced him to leave his job in January 2004.
"I'm on 12 medications right now, and yet we're left out in the cold," Bethea said. "It's as if our lives don't count."
Rivera noted that Bethea and David Sullins, a Cabrini Medical Center paramedic killed when the south tower collapsed, "didn't shirk their duties because they might not receive the same benefits as public employees."
All contents © 2005 Daily News, L.P.
Second EMT Dies of Lung Disease, By Ginger Adams Otis, Chief-Leader, November 4, 2005
The Fire Department Oct. 28 held funeral services for an Emergency Medical Technician who passed away Oct. 23 from a lung illness believed to be related to his work at Ground Zero.
EMT Felix Hernandez, 31, died surrounded by friends and family members in Orlando, Florida. The details of his death haven't been released at the request of his family. Mr. Hernandez was on medical leave from the FDNY at the time of his death.
A 10-Year Veteran
He was still considered an active FDNY member, but over the past year moved to Florida and began building a house. Mr. Hernandez was remembered by friends as a gentle and generous man. He joined the FDNY as an EMT in 1995, starting in Station 21 at Lincoln Hospital and later moving to Station 17.
He was one of hundreds of EMTs who responded to the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, and he later returned to help with the ongoing recovery efforts. He's believed to be the second city-employed EMT to die from an illness related to work performed at the WTC site.
EMT Timothy Keller died June 23 at age 41 after a heart attack brought on by respiratory distress. Like Mr. Hernandez, Mr. Keller was a non-smoker with no previous lung problems who developed serious respiratory issues a few years after Sept. 11.
Robert Ungar, spokesman and legislative counsel for Uniformed Emergency Medical Technician and Paramedic Union Local 2507, of District Council 37, said there were several EMS members with similar health problems who'd been deemed unfit for work by the FDNY but denied pensions by the New York City Employees' Retirement System.
'Not Handled Fairly'
"From the point of view of our membership, we don't think these cases are being handled very well at all," he said. "We've got people off the job, not because of any great desire to leave, but because their lung function has deteriorated to the point where they cant' work. But they aren't getting disability, and they're off payroll. It's egregious--we should be getting ongoing monitoring and health coverage for these illnesses."
Mr. Ungar expressed hope that Diane D'Alessandro, newly-appointed head of NYCERS, would make some changes.
"We've always tried to talk to NYCERS about this and we're hoping she'll be willing to hear us," he said.
Miguel Acevedo, a former New York Paramedic who now serves as a Firefighter/Paramedic for the Orlando Fire Department, spent time with Mr. Hernandez over the past year.
Health Deteriorated
"He called me up one day and said he wanted to move to Florida, he'd taken some time off for medical reasons," said Mr. Acevedo, "I told him to come on down--there's a whole bunch of us transplanted New Yorkers here, and I said we'd make him feel right at home."
Mr. Hernandez took Mr. Acevedo at his word and went to Florida, but his lung problems rapidly grew worse over the past year. He was in a hospice for the two weeks preceding his death.
"Felix was a great guy, a real caring person," said Mr. Acevedo. "He loved helping people and saving lives, and he was looking forward at some point to retiring in his new house."
E.P.A. to Change Dust Plan after Rebuke, by Ronda Kaysen, Downtown Express, Volume 18 • Issue 25, November 4 - 10, 2005
http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_130/epatochangedustplan.html
The Environmental Protection Agency expects to release a new plan to sample Downtown and Brooklyn buildings for remaining World Trade Center dust in the next month, now that a panel of experts derailed its original efforts.
Last week, an independent panel of experts from around the country rejected the E.P.A.s plan to sample for dust from the plume that followed the Sept. 11 collapse of the W.T.C., insisting the sampling method is scientifically unsound.
The agency hoped to begin sampling a selection of Downtown and Brooklyn buildings for remaining W.T.C. dust this year, relying on a so-called signature in the dust. The signature would theoretically differentiate W.T.C. dust from other, unrelated city dust.
The sampling plan was launched in response to criticisms of the E.P.A.’s original cleanup plan and concerns from residents that toxic dust might still remain in New York City homes and workplaces. If the $7 million sampling plan determines enough buildings are still contaminated with W.T.C. dust, the E.P.A. would then begin a cleanup process. Any building participating in the voluntary sampling plan found to be contaminated would be cleaned regardless of the area-wide findings.
But the panels findings a peer review process rejected the idea that the agency could rely on one element, slag wool from the W.T.C. insulation material, to determine a signature.
"E.P.A. has not made the case that its proposed analytical method can reliably discriminate background dust from dust contaminated with W.T.C. residue," the panel wrote in its findings. "The proposed method has not demonstrated the utility of slag wool as a successful signature constituent."
Although the agency could take steps to further prove a signature in the dust, it instead decided to abandon that option because of the time it will take to find a more precise signature. It will now focus its efforts on developing an alternative plan.
"E.P.A. is analyzing the results of the independent peer review for the study and then we will decide what we ought to do next," E.P.A. spokesperson Michael Brown told Downtown Express. He expects the agency will present a revised plan "in the next month or so." The plan will not seek to find a signature in the dut, he added.
The latest development marks another setback to an already glacial sampling process. The E.P.A. has spent 18 months developing the sampling plan the first step in what could be a cleanup process, if any dust is ever found. This latest setback was quietly posted on E.P.A.s Web site without fanfare.
The once monthly meetings in Lower Manhattan of an expert technical review panel slowed to a trickle in the past year. The panel has not met since July and a next panel meeting date has yet to be scheduled, although the agency hopes to have one sometime before the end of the year, Brown said.
Last November, the day after President George W. Bush was re-elected, the panels chairperson, Paul Gilman, announced his resignation. Gilman’s replacement, Timothy Oppelt will retire in Jan. 2006 and his replacement has yet to be determined, Brown said. Oppelt announced his retirement before he was tapped to chair the panel.
The latest setback has done little to appease the concerns of residents.
"Were very concerned what E.P.A’.s next move is," said Catherine McVay Hughes, community liaison for the technical review panel and chairperson of Community Board 1’s W.T.C. Redevelopment Committee. "We’re very concerned about the details of plan B. Were very concerned about it."
The E.P.A. insists it has not abandoned its mission to clean Downtown of any remaining dust, regardless of appearances of foot dragging. "The agency is not going to just abandon this project. We are completely committed to a program in Lower Manhattan," Brown said. "We want to know for certain that the health of those who live and or work in Lower Manhattan is protected."
Despite E.P.A. assurances, residents see the latest finding as yet another setback for the neighborhood. "The community still lost because we haven’t had a testing program or a cleanup and its been over four years," said Hughes. "No matter what, we still lost."
Ronda@DowntownExpress.com
More Heat than Light from Deutsche Meeting Demonstrators, Talking Point, by David Stanke, Downtown Express, Volume 18 • Issue 25, November 4 - 10, 2005
http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_130/moreheatthanlight.html
The Lower Manhattan Development Corp. recently sponsored an event on Oct. 24 to explain the removal of the infamous and contaminated Deutsche Bank building at 130 Liberty St. Unfortunately, the meeting became a platform for grandstanding and press baiting. Behind the commotion and smoke screen, no compelling issues surfaced. The information session was destroyed for those who, like me, simply wanted information. Once again, the L.M.D.C. was held hostage by extreme positions, at the cost of the communitys greatest concern as stated in a recent Community Board 1 resolution: real progress at building the World Trade Center.
To the credit of Community Board 1, various environmental groups and experts, and the L.M.D.C., the removal of Deutsche looks like it will be far safer for everyone involved. We are all indebted to the watchdog groups who have forced the L.M.D.C. to address very real environmental concerns. But, after months of intense discussions, it is time to stop fighting and move ahead. The L.M.D.C. has significantly enhanced the original take down procedures (compared to the earlier L.M.D.C. plans of December 2004, May 2005, and June 2005). The Environmental Protection Agency found the Sept. 7 final plans acceptable.
The stated cause for the debate was the format for the October 24 meeting. The issue became free speech rather than environmental safety. The L.M.D.C. proposed taking individual questions to experts directly at small tables. This format allows a resident to get information quickly and discreetly without standing in front of a crowd. C.B. 1 and others preferred a format with an open microphone with all questions answered publicly. This open-mic forum favors experts who want to voice objections in a public forum. It also allows a disruptive individuals to derail the event with or without cause.
The ultimate issue is: "Will the removal of 130 Liberty be safe for surrounding residents, workers, and pedestrians?" I live a half block away from 130 Liberty, and I do not believe that the risks from contamination or construction is substantial. I have not heard a specific and convincing statement to the contrary. To be clear, the contamination in the building can be harmful to humans. I spent three years after 9/11 dealing with decontamination of our similarly affected condo building. In the course of arranging two fully contained, partial deconstruction and decontamination projects with extensive air monitoring, I spoke with numerous environmental cleaning experts as well as with officials with the City Dept. of Environmental Protection. Cleaning procedures are specifically designed to eliminate the release of dust into the environment. Deconstruction only begins after decontamination has been completed.
There is a strong program to monitor air quality conditions for the construction workers and at monitoring sites around 130 Liberty Street. The outdoor results are available for anyone to inspect at http://www.renewnyc. com/plan_des_dev/130Liberty/air_monitoring.asp. Aside from contamination, the primary dangers are construction related. Construction happens all over the city without requiring special emergency procedures. It is the job of the city Office of Emergency Management to respond to all public emergencies, evacuate people from dangerous areas, and communicate issues to the public. O.E.M. is supposed to respond to terrorist attacks, including bio-chemical attacks and bombings. We dont need a redundant plan by the L.M.D.C. We need to know that O.E.M. is aware of the situation and ready to respond to any emergency.
If I am wrong on any of these assumptions, I would welcome an expert opinion written to local papers. If I am missing some obvious risk factor, please let us all know enlighten us in a calm, rational manner.
The L.M.D.C. has made and is committed to continue monthly presentations to C.B. 1. There is no stifling of free speech and no suppression of truth apparent here. What happened on October 24th is the calculated loss of civility meant to damage the L.M.D.C. with very little benefit to anyone.
Rosa Parks demonstrated that great injustices can be exposed with simple, determined statements of position. On Oct. 24, people showed up at the meeting with tape on their mouths and signs in their hands, turning directly to the cameras with cool and practiced precision. I dont believe that most were from our community. I suspect that the righteousness of their cause is not as dramatic as their actions.
I understand why the L.M.D.C. tried to structure a meeting that could not be hijacked. But there is no way to control a public meeting. They should have structured it with open Q and A after the table sessions, giving anyone with an agenda the chance to air it. The task of the L.M.D.C. is to hear public comment, address real issues, and balance differing objectives. My on-going concern with the L.M.D.C. is not that they fail to listen. Too often, they listen too well and over-commit to rash demands made by minority interests at great cost to the public good. Community Board 1 would better serve our community by actively pushing the L.M.D.C. to move forward on big issues rather than taking principled stands on areas of little importance.
David Stanke serves on advisory panels on W.T.C. planning and frequently writes on rebuilding issues. His e-mail is bpcunited@ebond.com.
http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_130/letterstotheeditor.html
To The Editor:As one of the Downtown activists who stood with blue tape over his mouth on the evening of Oct. 24th to protest the Lower Manhattan Development Corporations plan not to answer questions from the floor regarding the demolition of 130 Liberty St., the former Deutsche Bank building, I applaud your extensive coverage of the issues (news article, Oct. 28 Nov. 3, L.M.D.C. pummeled at public meeting). It is unfortunate that it took a disruptive demonstration to force the L.M.D.C. to do what is right, but given L.M.D.C.s continuing disregard for the health and well-being of Downtown residents and workers, it was necessary to take action to prevent L.M.D.C. from avoiding questions about the serious deficiencies in their current demolition plan.
Downtown workers and residents have a right to a plan that provides the strongest safeguards against the release of contaminants from the building under demolition into the atmosphere, as well as a well-designed emergency notification procedure in case the safeguards fail. The current plan provides neither.
Members of the Downtown Community Labor Coalition continue to seek an ongoing dialogue to improve the L.M.D.C.s plan. We are not taking potshots at the current plan, but offering concrete suggestions to improve it. One example would be for the L.M.D.C. to provide a hand-held, two-way radio to the building manager or superintendent of each Downtown residence and office building. In the event of an emergency arising at 130 Liberty St., such as a sudden, major release of toxic material, L.M.D.C. could instantly, simultaneously notify every building in the neighborhood of the nature of the emergency and the recommended protective response (e.g., evacuation or sheltering in place).
Too many people have already become seriously ill because of failures on the part of government agencies in the handling of the rescue, recovery, and cleanup efforts following 9/11. We cannot allow L.M.D.C.to put us all at risk again because of a lack of proper safeguards and effective emergency notification procedures for the demolition of 130 Liberty St.
The author is the Health & safety committee chairperson, Public Employees Federation Division 199, 90 Church St.
Protest counter-productive, Letter to the Editor, by Bill Love, Downtown Express, Volume 18 • Issue 25, November 4 - 10, 2005
http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_130/letterstotheeditor.html
To The Editor:Re L.M.D.C. pummeled at public meeting (news article, Oct. 28 - Nov. 3):
As a long-time resident of Battery Park City whose office also faces the Deutsche Bank building from a block away, I was eager to hear the scheduled Oct. 24 presentation by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation on the demolition of that building. Although I was aware ahead of time of the controversy over the format of the meeting and disagreed with the L.M.D.C.s decision not to use an open mic format, I nonetheless felt that I needed to attend in order to hear what the L.M.D.C. and its experts had to say on this critical topic for those of us who live and work in Lower Manhattan.
As I walked into the meeting room a few minutes late, I was shocked to hear people shouting and screaming at the L.M.D.C. speaker. The protestors described in your article had essentially seized control of the meeting and were refusing to let the L.M.D.C. proceed with its presentation. I did not recognize the faces of these demonstrators as being those of any of my neighbors in Lower Manhattan. Whoever they were, I got the distinct impression from observing their demeanor and tactics that they had done this sort of thing before (i.e., disrupting meetings). In other words, this did not exactly seem to be a grassroots uprising by local residents, as a reader of your article might infer. Also, despite your reporters statement that Monday nights outburst is the latest example of escalating friction between the development corporation and the community board, I did not recognize any of the shouters and screamers as being members of the community board either.
After a few minutes of observing this obnoxious bit of street theater and with no sign that the chaos was about to subside anytime soon, I reluctantly gave up and left the meeting. As far as I am concerned, these extremists, many of whom apparently were not from the neighborhood, prevented me from obtaining information that was important to me. While reasonable people may differ on matters like meeting formats, that is no excuse for the uncivil actions of those demonstrators on Oct. 24. These protestors could have gotten their message without disrupting the ability of the L.M.D.C. speaker to exercise his right to free speech and my right to hear his message. Alternatively, they could have encouraged people to boycott the meeting based on its unsuitable format. Ultimately, however, it was the L.M.D.C.s meeting and its right to set the format.
I have always marveled at the arrogance of people who engage in this type of disruptive activity. It reminds me of the degree of certitude and self-righteousness that one observes in religious extremists around the world. And we know where that leads.
9/11 Firefighters Show Long-Term Lung Damage, by Martha Kerr, Reuters Health, November 3, 2005
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=healthNews&storyID=2005-11-03T224108Z_01_WRI381412_RTRIDST_0_HEALTH-9-11-FIREFIGHTERS-SHOW-LONG-TERM-LUNG-DAM-DC.XML
MONTREAL - The latest follow-up report on lung function in New York City firefighters shows that firefighters who served in rescue efforts in the World Trade Center collapse are showing "accelerated pulmonary function decline."
The data were presented here Wednesday at CHEST 2005, the annual meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians.
Dr. David Pezant of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and deputy chief medical officer of the New York City Department of Firefighters was lead author of the report involving 12,079 firefighters who worked at the site before, during and after September 11, 2001, as well as those who were never exposed.
The cohort has been classified into groups according to exposure to particulate matter associated with the disaster site: those exposed acutely to particulate matter during the towers' collapse; those exposed over the next 48 hours; those exposed after 48 hours; and those who were not exposed.
The firefighters underwent lung function testing two to three times a year prior to 9/11 and once annually since then. Spirometry measures of lung function correlated linearly with arrival time at the disaster site, Pezant announced.
"Pulmonary function (forced expiratory volume in 1 second, or FEV1) decline was about 20 to 30 mL a year prior to the attack, which you would expect with the normal aging process," Pezant told Reuters Health.
"Instead, what we found was figures 12 times higher than that."
Lung function dropped the most for firefighters exposed during the collapse, followed by those who arrived over the next 48 hours, followed those who were exposed after that. Decline in lung function was around 50 percent greater in those with late exposure compared with those who were never exposed, he noted.
Pezant pointed out that the long-term course of lung function decline is uncertain.
The decline in pulmonary function appears to correlate with respiratory symptoms, he added. He also said: "I can tell you anecdotally that while there is some improvement in those who are treated, treatment does not eliminate the drop in pulmonary function entirely."
More than 2000 New York City firefighters have been treated for respiratory symptoms since 9/11. Pezant said his group is currently working on that data and a new report on the results of treatment on lung function over time will be issued in the upcoming months.
Reuters 2005
What Happened to That Cloud of Dust? by Anthony DePalma, New York Times, November 2, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/02/nyregion/02dust.htmlIt remains one of the most powerful images of the day the twin towers fell - a towering cloud of angry gray dust that rose up from the debris and raged through the canyons of Lower Manhattan, blotting out the sun and choking everything, and everyone, in its way.
For a time, the dust seemed to be everywhere, from the insides of downtown apartments to the very air that New Yorkers breathed. It is suspected of causing respiratory problems and may have long-term effects on health.
Most of the dust was swept up long ago, but small amounts of it doubtless remain, tucked in nooks and corners. Federal environmental officials had planned to test living and working places in Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn this year to make sure they are not still contaminated.
But the project has been stalled in part because even though the dust was seen, smelled or inhaled by millions of New Yorkers four years ago, there is no consensus about how to identify it today.
Last Friday, a panel of independent scientists from around the country rejected a proposal by the federal Environmental Protection Agency to use a single element in the dust - slag wool insulation from the towers - in tests to prove its presence. "E.P.A. has not made the case that its proposed analytical method can reliably discriminate background dust from dust contaminated with W.T.C. residue," the peer review concluded.
The panel's rejection has thrown 18 months of planning into chaos, and has left the E.P.A. scrambling for alternatives to satisfy residents worried that the dust may be hazardous. No one really knows what kind of long-term risk the material represents or whether it is dangerous in the small amounts that would still be in apartments and offices. Scientists have not compiled a list of everything it contained, and probably never will.
Paul J. Lioy has studied the dust as carefully as anyone. He is an environmental health scientist and deputy director of government relations for the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute of Rutgers University and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. He is also a member of the E.P.A.'s technical panel.
He was asked to go to ground zero by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in the chaotic days after the towers collapsed. Then the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey requested his help in assessing whether the dust represented a hazard.
The dust came down in a layer so thick that it was easy to get a sizable sample for analysis. Dr. Lioy and his colleagues just shoveled it off the windshield of cars and put it into special Teflon bags.
"It had a weird texture and color to it," Dr. Lioy said, describing it as light and fluffy. Far from the horror of ground zero, the dust was subjected to intense analysis at the institute's laboratories in Piscataway, N.J., where Dr. Lioy still keeps more than two pounds of it.
He handles the dust delicately, almost reverently. It retains its grayish color - it looks like dust from a vacuum cleaner bag - and has no distinguishable odor.
When Dr. Lioy talks about what the dust is made of, his tone also changes drastically. "I try to be very careful about how I say it," Dr. Lioy said. The powdery dust on his laboratory table, he says, "contains everything we hold dear."
The analysis done by Dr. Lioy and his colleagues produced a long list of elements and compounds they identified in the dust. They found microscopic traces of nearly every element - chromium, magnesium, manganese, aluminum, barium, titanium and lead, lots of lead from the paint used in the buildings.
They found some of the volatile components of jet fuel, along with a long list of unburned or partially burned hydrocarbons. There was slag wool from the towers' insulation, along with fiberglass and asbestos, wood and glass, plastic and colored specks of paper, bits of cotton fiber and organic compounds too infinitesimal to record.
And there's more. "Everything we hold dear" also includes the essence of those who died in the collapse. Dr. Lioy talks about it with reluctance. When pressed, he says minute amounts of organic material are probably mixed with the dust.
"If we're talking about the number of souls we lost, and every one of them was valuable, they would represent a tiny portion of the material in the dust," Dr. Lioy said. The ability to find anything in the dust that can be traced to a specific item - a desk, a chair, a computer - is extremely limited, and identifying material as human is, he said, "almost impossible."
Rarely has any substance been so studied yet remained so mysterious. Dr. Lioy continues to send small samples of the dust to scientists around the country who ask for it to conduct their own research. He favored using slag wool as a marker, and he declined to comment on the rejection until the full technical panel on which he sits has had a chance to look over the peer reviewers' report.
But the Environmental Protection Agency may be ready to drop the slag wool proposal completely and turn to an alternative plan that it hinted at earlier this year.
"We're considering all options," said Michael G. Brown, an associate assistant administrator for research at the agency.
Under the alternative plan, which is far from complete, the agency would test a limited number of residential spaces in roughly the same area of Lower Manhattan where more than 4,000 apartments were cleaned in 2002.
Some decontaminated apartments will be tested again, along with others that will be checked for the first time if their owners request it.
Any apartments where hazards are discovered will be decontaminated regardless of whether trade center dust is detected. The estimated budget for the project is around $7 million.
That proposal is far more modest than the agency's current plan to test for slag wool in 150 of the 7,000 residential and commercial buildings in sections of Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn.
The sampling results would establish the geographic limits of the contamination and let individual apartments and offices within those limits be cleaned and tested.
David M. Newman, an industrial hygienist for the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health and a member of a technical panel of experts assembled 18 months ago to advise the federal agency on cleaning up the dust, said workers and residents who did not think the existing proposal was adequate were likely to reject a new one that was even more limited.
"My best guess," he said, "is that such a proposal would not be satisfactory."
Catherine McVay Hughes, a member of the E.P.A.'s technical panel who lives a block away from ground zero, said that if a new plan was put forward, the community would demand to know what kind of contaminants besides lead and asbestos the agency would test for, where it would do the testing and what level of contamination would prompt a cleanup.
But the agency is not expected to provide any details of its alternative plan before the next meeting of the technical panel, now tentatively scheduled for Dec. 13.
For Ms. McVay Hughes, dust has become an intensely personal issue. She cannot stand to be near it anymore, and she keeps five air filters in her home, even though it was cleaned three years ago."We want to make sure the E.P.A. does the right thing now," she said. "We don't want a plan that just gives false assurances."
Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
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