Posted on 06/25/2007 7:23:17 AM PDT by RDTF
In the week after 9/11, Christie Whitman, the former head of the federal Environmental Protection Agency, assured New Yorkers that "their air is safe to breathe and their water is safe to drink."
Today, Whitman will finally face tough questions about those fateful words at a congressional hearing headed by U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-Manhattan).
We now know the collapse of the twin towers and the fires which burned for months at Ground Zero triggered the worst toxic release our nation has seen: thousands of tons of asbestos, lead, chromium, benzene, PCBs, dioxins, highly-caustic cement dust and hundreds of other dangerous substances.
Nearly six years later, thousands of first responders, recovery workers, residents and downtown workers are sick. Some have died. They are sick and dying in part because Whitman's agency and the Giuliani administration concealed the full extent of the toxic soup in lower Manhattan.
Here are 10 questions Whitman must answer about this totally avoidable second tragedy.
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at nydailynews.com ...
What did Rudy know and when did he know it :-)
"Totally avoidable"? Yeah, I guess we could have just evacuated NYC permanently -- left it for the sands or whatever to cover.
As I understand it, the smell was pretty awful for months after 9/11, and surely relief workers are routinely fitted with protective gear.
He says thousands of relief workers and residents are sick and dying. In a city the size of NYC, wouldn't there be thousands of residents sick and dying at any given time? I'd like to see more specifics tying the illnesses to the clean-up period.
And what about the fact that the worst level of toxins had to be worst in the hours and days immediately following the attack -- when most people were thinking about survival and survivors, not environmental threats. How would exposure those first frew hours and days have been "totally avoidable"? How can they distinguish between the effects of the initial blast of toxins and the lingering levels?
I don't know about all of them, but I'm pretty sure toxic effects of asbestos usually take more like 30 or 40 years to show up.
I think he's pretty short on facts and analysis -- but long on Republican bashing and hysteria.
Many first responders refused to wear repiratory protection.
The fact is that we are now seeing the premature deaths of first responders and emergency site workers from respiratory ailments.
However, many did not wear respirators even when the equipment was available and it is somewhat understandable given the urgency in the immediate moments following the attack.
But when rescuers fail to wear proper protective equipment and fail to follow safety procedures they often become casualties themselves.
Bin Laden is very pleased that we are still attacking each other over 9/11 issues.
“the worst toxic release our nation has seen: thousands of tons of asbestos, lead, chromium, benzene, PCBs, dioxins, highly-caustic cement dust and hundreds of other dangerous substances.”
Although not on the scale of 9/11, fires like this happen every day across the US. I doubt whether the fires had that much effect on people.
First off, this wasn't known at the time. Secondly, had this been known, there would have been a complete panic in NYC on top of the tragedy.
The bottom line is that nothing the EPA could have done would have made the situation any better for the citizens of New York. The big error was in not requiring that site workers use proper respiratory and protective gear.
Go back and read what you wrote and see if it still seems like an intelligent remark.
Sky scrapers don’t collapse every day.
The streets of a city are not filled with dust and debris every day.
There are not catastrophic events that require weeks for the dust to clear....every day.
It was the size, scope and scale of this disaster that made releases of the types described to be possible.
Any chance that you’ve actually been to Ground Zero to see any of the disaster first hand? I was there just over a year later when there was still a 70 foot deep hole in the ground. IMO, it was the saddest place on Earth at that moment.
“Go back and read what you wrote and see if it still seems like an intelligent remark.”
OK, I know what I read. What I was said is that fires and chemicals are spewed into the air every day, but not to the extent of 9/11. That’s all I’m saying. I don’t need you to judge the “intelligence” of my remark.
Do you still stand by that statement?
Do you really believe that the fires, with their subsequent smoke and structural collapses did not have "that much effect on people"?
Related:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1855815/posts
Whitman to Testify Before Congress on 9/11 Air Quality
Many first responders refused to wear repiratory protection.
Announcements were made repeatedly that the air was “safe” in the days following the attack. People were told it was safe to return to their apartments and offices.
This is going to be a huge mess. Every email, every hardcopy memo, every note from every meeting, everything was saved.
Comparing the air in nearby offices to what the responders were breathing is apples and oranges.
Wait until this thing comes to a head...I was down there and the stench was strong in offices, which were also coated with the dust. I’d note that there are also several schools in the area.
Most of the workers on the pile were/are unionized as are the teachers in the nearby schools. The folks in the surrounding offices aren’t unionized, but a lot of them are high paid professionals, investment bankers, brokers, etc.
In short — the folks either on the pile or very close to the pile have extremely deep pockets and are not afraid to raise a fuss.
Please don’t put me as one defending EPA in any way shape or form.
I’m sure that just from the size and diversity of the local population that there will be some whose health has been severely or even terminally compromised from airborne contamination. It is inevitable.
Then there are those whose health has been affected less severely.
And then there are those who will be part of the ‘me too’ crowd...
Once the visible dust settles then what remains is the real health hazard, the microscopic respirable particles. If you can see them then you probably won’t actually breath them, they get caught on the way.
But I’m sure someone will expected the EPA to test the air in every office in every building on every street nearby.
Some of the banks and law firms brought in private contractors to test and clean. Those results may/will/probably stand in stark contrast to the gubmint efforts.
As I’ve said before, the tip off should have come when insurance companies started writing checks for the book value of cars that were only coated in the dust.
Why isn’t OSHA on the hot seat? Why the EPA?
Why would OSHA be liable for anything?
Cheaper to total the car than to clean it, especially if there were suspected abestos containing materials invovled.
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